Charles Philip Yorke, 4th Earl of Hardwicke
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Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
Charles Philip Yorke, 4th Earl of Hardwicke, PC (2 April 1799 – 17 September 1873) was a British naval commander and
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
politician.


Background

Born at Sydney Lodge, in Hamble le Rice, Hardwicke was the eldest son of Admiral Sir Joseph Sydney Yorke, second son of
Charles Yorke Charles Yorke Privy Council of the United Kingdom, PC (30 December 172220 January 1770) was briefly Lord Chancellor, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. His father was also Lord Chancellor, and he began his career as a Member of Parliament. ...
,
Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...
, by his second wife, Agneta Johnson. He was a nephew of
Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke, KG, PC, FRS (31 May 1757 – 18 November 1834), known as Philip Yorke until 1790, was a British politician. Background and education Born in Cambridge, England, he was the eldest son of Charles Yorke, L ...
. He was educated at Harrow and at the Royal Naval College, where he was awarded the second medal.


Naval career

Hardwicke entered the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
in May 1815 as
midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...
on , the
flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
at
Spithead Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds except those from the southeast. It receives its name from the Spit, a sandbank stretching south from the Hampshire ...
. Later, he served in the
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
, on (18) and (74) then subsequently (100), the flagship of
Lord Exmouth Viscount Exmouth, of Canonteign in the County of Devon, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. History The title was created in 1816 for the prominent naval officer Edward Pellew, 1st Baron Exmouth. He had already been created a baro ...
, by whom he was entrusted with the command of a gunboat at the bombardment of Algiers. He later joined (60) under the flag of Sir David Milne, on the North American station, where he was given the command of the ''Jane'', a small vessel carrying dispatches between Halifax and Bermuda. He was then appointed acting lieutenant of (18) and after a few months commissioned in the rank of lieutenant in August 1819. The next October, he joined the frigate on the Halifax station, until appointed to the command of in 1823 on the Mediterranean station, in this post he was employed, before and after he obtained the rank of captain in 1825, in watching the movements of the Turko-Egyptian forces and in the suppression of piracy. Between 1828 and 1831, he took command of (28), on the same station and took an active part in the naval operation in connection with the struggle between Greece and Turkey. Lastly, between 1844 and 1845, for short periods, he assumed command of the steam yacht HMS ''Black Eagle'' and (120), in which he carried the Emperor of Russia, Nicholas I, to England. He attained flag rank in 1838. In 1849, while commanding , he acted as a mediator between the Mazzinian rebel and the Kingdom of Sardinia during the rebellion in Genoa following the defeat during the First War of Independence. For this actions, he was decorated by the Sardinian King
Victor Emmanuel II Victor Emmanuel II ( it, Vittorio Emanuele II; full name: ''Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso di Savoia''; 14 March 1820 – 9 January 1878) was King of Sardinia from 1849 until 17 March 1861, when he assumed the title o ...
with a
Gold Medal of Military Valour The Gold Medal of Military Valour ( it, Medaglia d'oro al valor militare) is an Italian medal established on 21 May 1793 by King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia for deeds of outstanding gallantry in war by junior officers and soldiers. The fac ...
, which he was authorized to accept by Queen Victoria only in 1855. In 1858, he retired from the active list with the rank of rear-admiral, becoming vice-admiral in the same year, and admiral in 1863. He retired from the Royal Navy in 1870.


Political career

Hardwicke represented
Reigate Reigate ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'' and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earlie ...
in the
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between 1831 and 1832 and
Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...
between 1832 and 1834. In 1834, on the death of his uncle, he became the fourth Earl of Hardwicke, and inherited the substantial
Wimpole Wimpole is a small village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, about southwest of Cambridge. Until 1999, the main settlement on the A603 was officially known and signed as ''New Wimpole and Orwell, Cambridge Road''. On 1 April 19 ...
estate in Cambridgeshire. He was a member of
Lord Derby Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, (29 March 1799 – 23 October 1869, known before 1834 as Edward Stanley, and from 1834 to 1851 as Lord Stanley) was a British statesman, three-time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom ...
's cabinet in 1852 as
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and as
Lord Privy Seal The Lord Privy Seal (or, more formally, the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal) is the fifth of the Great Officers of State (United Kingdom), Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and abov ...
between 1858 and 1859. In 1852 he was sworn of the
Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...
.


Family

Hardwicke married the Honourable Susan Liddell, sixth daughter of
Thomas Liddell, 1st Baron Ravensworth Thomas Henry Liddell, 1st Baron Ravensworth (8 February 1775 – 7 March 1855), known as Sir Thomas Liddell, 6th Baronet, from 1791 to 1821, was a British peer and Tory politician. Early life Liddell was the son of Sir Henry Liddell, 5th Ba ...
, in August 1833. They had five sons and three daughters, including Charles Philip, Lady
Elizabeth Philippa Biddulph Lady Elizabeth Philippa Biddulph (, Yorke, after first marriage, Adeane, after second marriage, Biddulph; 15 November 1834 – January 1916) was an English humanitarian and temperance leader. She published a biography of her father, Charles Yorke ...
,
Lady Agneta Harriet Montagu Lady Agneta Harriet Montagu (née Yorke; 13 December 1838 - 12 March 1919), sometimes known as Lady Agnete Yorke and Lady Augusta Yorke, was a British aristocrat and courtier. She served as a bridesmaid at the wedding of Alexandra of Denmark and E ...
, and Lady Mary Catherine, whose daughter Isabel Sophie married
Charles Gordon-Lennox, 7th Duke of Richmond Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, 7th Duke of Richmond and Lennox, 2nd Duke of Gordon, (27 December 1845 – 18 January 1928), 7th Duke of Aubigny ( French peerage in the French nobility), styled Lord Settrington until 1860 and Earl of March between ...
. Hardwicke died in September 1873, aged 74, and was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest son, Charles. The Countess of Hardwicke died in November 1886. He also supposedly fathered an illegitimate child by one Charlotte Pratt, a serving girl at his Wimpole Hall home. Charlotte got married in 1849, and the following was noted in the marriage register: ''The year before this marriage, 18-year-old servant girl Charlotte gave birth to a son, James Pratt, who was baptised on 2 April 1848. The father was understood to have been her employer, the 4th Earl of Hardwicke. "Charlotte... was a Pratt; and she was a picture. The handsomest woman that I ever remember to have seen. In harvest time to see her swinging along the road with a bundle of corn balanced on her head, both arms akimbo, was a study in colour, figure and poise". - A.C.Yorke'' There is further speculation that in 1856 Hardwicke, again, fathered another illegitimate child. This time by another servant girl, Daphne Whitby, serving at his home, Wimpole Hall. Daphne gave birth to Charles Whitby on 7 February 1856, his baptism is registered at the Estate church, St Andrew's, on 1 June 1856. The entry in the parish register reads... 'Charles Whitby, son of (blank) and Daphne Whitby, spinster of Wimpole parish. ather not identified, presumably born out of wedlock. Daphne went on to marry Job Male, a labourer at Wimpole Hall, in April 1857.


See also

*


References

*The Times 18 September 1873. *Charles Philip Yorke, Fourth Earl of Hardwicke, Vice-Admiral R.N. – a Memoir by Lady Biddulph of Ledbury. Source:
Charles Philip Yorke, Fourth Earl of Hardwicke, Vice-Admiral R.N. — a Memoir


External links

* ;Attribution *


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hardwicke, Charles Philip Yorke, 4th Earl Of 1799 births 1873 deaths 4 Lord-Lieutenants of Cambridgeshire Lords Privy Seal Royston, Charles Philip Yorke, Viscount Royal Navy admirals People from Hamble-le-Rice United Kingdom Postmasters General Royston, Charles Philip Yorke, Viscount Royston, Charles Philip Yorke, Viscount UK MPs who inherited peerages
Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...
Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Royal Navy personnel of the Bombardment of Algiers (1816)