George Brydges Harley Dennett Rodney, 7th Baron Rodney (28 February 1857 – 29 December 1909) was a British Army officer notable for his service in the Egyptian and Nile campaigns of the 1880s. He succeeded his father to the Rodney Barony in 1864 and was succeeded by his son George Bridges Harley Guest Rodney (1891–1973).

Life

Rodney was a captain in the

1st Life Guards The 1st Regiment of Life Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. It was formed in 1788 by the union of the 1st Troop of Horse Guards and 1st Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards. In 1922, it was amalgamate ...

from 1886 to 1888, serving with them in the Egyptian and Nile campaigns before moving to the

Reserve of Officers The Army Reserve is the active-duty volunteer reserve force of the British Army. It is separate from the Regular Reserve whose members are ex-Regular personnel who retain a statutory liability for service. Descended from the Territorial Force ( ...

at the same rank in 1889. He exhausted his considerable inherited fortune on bloodstock and gambling. In 1887, his first season as a racehorse owner, he won the

St Leger Stakes The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over ...

with

Kilwarlin Kilwarlin (1884 – 1900) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. The detail of his ownership were complicated and led to complaints being lodged with the Jockey Club. He showed considerable promise as a juvenile in 1886 when he won h ...

and the

Cesarewitch Handicap The Cesarewitch Handicap is a flat handicap horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Newmarket over a distance of 2 miles and 2 furlongs (3,621 met ...

with Humewood. He attended the Devonshire House Ball of 1897 as

King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...

. He also held the rank of captain in the Shropshire Imperial Yeomanry from 1890 to 1897 before becoming lieutenant colonel of the 16th Middlesex (London Irish) Rifle Volunteers in 1898. He was the last of his family to live at

Berrington Hall Berrington Hall is a country house located about north of Leominster, Herefordshire, England. During the 20th century it was the seat of the Cawley family. It is a neoclassical country house building that Henry Holland designed in 1778-81 ...

, selling it and its estate to Frederick Cawley, MP in 1901. He became lieutenant colonel of

24th (County of London) Battalion (The Queen's) The 24th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (The Queen's) was an auxiliary unit of the British Army. Formed in 1908 from Volunteer units in the Surrey suburbs of London that dated back to 1860, it was part of the London Regiment in the ...

soon after the formation of the

London Regiment London Regiment may refer to two infantry regiments in the British Army: * London Regiment (1908–1938) The London Regiment was an infantry regiment in the British Army, part of the Territorial Force (renamed the Territorial Army in 1921). Th ...

and took an active interest in cadet corps in south London, dying in

Camberwell Camberwell ( ) is an List of areas of London, area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles' Church, Camberwell, St Giles ...

aged 52 and being buried at Camberwell Old Cemetery."Death of Lord Rodney", ''Bridgnorth Journal and South Shropshire Advertiser'', 1 January 1910, page 5

Marriage and issue

On 24 January 1891 at

St James's Church, Piccadilly St James's Church, Piccadilly, also known as St James's Church, Westminster, and St James-in-the-Fields, is an Anglican church on Piccadilly in the centre of London, England. The church was designed and built by Sir Christopher Wren. The churc ...

he married Corisande Evelyn Vere Guest (4 July 1870 – 1 September 1943), second daughter of

Ivor Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne Ivor Bertie Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne, 2nd Baronet, DL (29 August 1835 – 22 February 1914) was a British industrialist and a member of the prominent Guest family. Early life Ivor Bertie Guest was born at Dowlais, near Merthyr Tydfil, the so ...

, and his wife Lady Cornelia Henrietta Maria Spencer-Churchill, a daughter of

John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough John Winston Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough, (2 June 18224 July 1883), styled Earl of Sunderland from 1822 to 1840 and Marquess of Blandford from 1840 to 1857, was a British Conservative cabinet minister, politician, peer, and noble ...

and thus a great-aunt of

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

. Rodney and his wife had four sons:''

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...

'', volume 3 (2003), page 3381 # George Bridges Harley Guest Rodney, later 8th Baron Rodney #James Henry Bertie Rodney (1893–1933) #Charles Christian Simon Rodney (1895–1980) #William Francis Rodney (1896–1915) Almost immediately after the marriage he began physically abusing his wife and after he struck her in the eye on 21 April 1899 she ceased living with him. He moved in with Corisande's former

lady's maid A lady's maid is a female personal attendant who waits on her female employer. The role of a lady's maid is similar to that of a gentleman's valet. Description Traditionally, the lady's maid was not as high-ranking as a lady's companion, who wa ...

Annie Turner and his wife filed an initial petition of divorce on grounds of cruelty and adultery, though this was abandoned at his request in favour of a

deed of separation Legal separation (sometimes judicial separation, separate maintenance, divorce ', or divorce from bed-and-board) is a legal process by which a married couple may formalize a separation while remaining legally married. A legal separation is gra ...

. He continued to live with Turner and a second petition was presented on the same grounds - George did not contest it and a

decree nisi A decree nisi or rule nisi () is a court order that will come into force at a future date unless a particular condition is met. Unless the condition is met, the ruling becomes a decree absolute (rule absolute), and is binding. Typically, the con ...

and custody of their children were granted to Corisande in 1902."Lord Rodney Divorced - Peer and Lady's Maid", ''Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper'', 23 March 1902, page 6 On 28 January 1903, Rodney married secondly Charlotte Eugenia Probyn, daughter of Charlotte Seymour Jones and her husband Edmund Probyn. She survived him, though this second marriage had no issue.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodney, George Brydges Harley Dennett Rodney, 7th Baron 1857 births 1909 deaths George Brydges Harley Dennett British Life Guards officers Imperial Yeomanry officers London Regiment officers London Irish Rifles officers