George Wyndham, 1st Baron Leconfield (5 June 1787 – 18 March 1869), was a British soldier and

hereditary peer The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of April 2025, there are 800 hereditary peers: 30 dukes (including six royal dukes), 34 marquesses, 189 earls, 108 viscounts, and 439 barons (not counting subsidiary ...

Early life

A direct descendant of

Sir John Wyndham ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part o ...

, he was born in 1787, the eldest

natural son Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally marriage, married to each other, and of a child Fertilisation, conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitim ...

George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont George O'Brien Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont Royal Society#Fellows, FRS (18 December 1751 – 11 November 1837) of Petworth House in Sussex and Orchard Wyndham in Somerset, was a British Peerage of Great Britain, peer, a major landowner and a ...

, and Elizabeth Ilive. His parents were married in 1801 but had no sons after their marriage.

Military career

Wyndham entered the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

in 1799 as a

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Cana ...

on . In 1802 he transferred to the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

as a

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. There is also a soprano cor ...

in the

5th Dragoon Guards The 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guards was a British army cavalry regiment, officially raised in January 1686 as Shrewsbury's Regiment of Horse or the Earl of Shrewsbury's Horse. By 1687, it was known as Langsdale's Horse, from ...

, promoted in 1803 to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

in the

3rd Dragoon Guards The 3rd (Prince of Wales's) Dragoon Guards was a Cavalry regiments of the British Army, cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1685 as the Earl of Plymouth's Regiment of Horse. It was renamed as the 3rd Regiment of Dragoon Guards ...

. In 1805 he was a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in the 72nd Highlanders and ADC to Sir Eyre Coote who was Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. In 1807 he was DAAG to

Earl Cathcart Earl Cathcart is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. History The title was created in 1814 for the soldier and diplomat William Cathcart, 1st Viscount Cathcart. The Cathcart family descends from Sir Alan Cathcart, who sometime bet ...

at the Bombardment of Copenhagen; in 1809, as captain in the

1st Foot Guards The Grenadier Guards (GREN GDS) is the most senior infantry regiment of the British Army, being at the top of the Infantry Order of Precedence. It can trace its lineage back to 1656 when Lord Wentworth's Regiment was raised in Bruges to protect ...

, he took part in the

Walcheren Expedition The Walcheren Campaign () was an unsuccessful British expedition to the Kingdom of Holland in 1809 intended to open another front in the Austrian Empire's struggle with France during the War of the Fifth Coalition. John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Ch ...

; in 1811 he was a

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

in the 78th Regiment and the 12th Light Dragoons; and in 1812 he was lieutenant-colonel commanding the

20th Light Dragoons The 20th Regiment of Light Dragoons was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. History The regiment was raised as the 20th (Jamaica) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons in 1792; it was deployed to Jamaica in 1795 during the Second Maroon War. The reg ...

at the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo.

Peerage

When he died in 1837 the 3rd Earl of Egremont bequeathed all his unentailed property to George Wyndham, who therefore became the heir to the substantial Egremont estates, including

Petworth House Petworth House is a late 17th-century Grade I listed English country house, country house in the parish of Petworth, West Sussex, England. It was built in 1688 by Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, and altered in the 1870s to the desi ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

. In 1859 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Leconfield, of Leconfield in the East Riding of the County of York. During the

Great Irish Famine The Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger ( ), the Famine and the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland lasting from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a historical social crisis and had a major impact o ...

, Wyndham was often in residence in his County Clare estate near Ennis where he assisted tenants who wanted to emigrate to Canada. This was a continuation of his father's improving policies in Sussex. In late 1849 and early 1850, a series of seven anonymous essays and illustrations concerning the famine appeared in ''

The Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'', founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less freq ...

'' under the title "Condition of Ireland: Illustrations of the New Poor Law." Here the narrator (likely the journalist and philanthropist Sidney Godolphin Osborne) writes of Col. Wyndham that "Colonel Windham . . . is not tired of his fellow-creatures, and does not seek to exterminate them. Not a roofless house did I see here." His property was a "little oasis of humanity in the desert of misery."

Marriage and children

Wyndham married Mary Fanny Blunt, daughter of Reverend William Blunt, in 1815. They had nine children: * Mary Wyndham (3 March 1816 – 24 May 1823), died young * George William Wyndham (27 February 1817 – 2 July 1837) *

Hon Hon or HON may refer to: People Given name * Cho Hŏn (1544–1592), Joseon militia leader * Ho Hon (1885–1951), North Korean politician Surname * Han (surname) (Chinese: 韩/韓), also romanized Hon * Louis Hon (1924–2008), French fo ...

. Fanny Charlotte Wyndham (20 September 1820 – 27 January 1893) * Hon. Helen Caroline Elizabeth Wyndham (11 May 1823 – 19 March 1852), married Alfred Montgomery, brother of

Sir Henry Conyngham Montgomery, 2nd Baronet Sir Henry Conyngham Montgomery, 2nd Baronet, PC (1803–1878) was a British administrator in India. Biography Montgomery was the eldest son of Sir Henry Conyngham Montgomery (d 1830). The father served in India for many years as a cavalry off ...

; their daughter, Sibyl, married

John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry (20 July 184431 January 1900), was a British nobleman of the Victorian era, remembered for his atheism, his outspoken views, his brutish manner, for lending his name to the " Queensberry Rules" t ...

* Hon. Blanche Julia Wyndham (21 November 1826 – 31 January 1918), married

Richard Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo Richard Southwell Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo, (; ; 21 February 1822 – 8 February 1872) styled Lord Naas (; ) from 1842 to 1867 and Lord Mayo in India, was a prominent British statesman and Conservative politician. He served as Chief Secreta ...

* Hon. Caroline Sophia Wyndham (10 September 1829 – 19 March 1852), married Col. Sir

Nigel Kingscote Colonel (United Kingdom), Colonel Sir Robert Nigel Fitzhardinge Kingscote (28 February 1830 – 22 September 1908) was a British soldier, Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician, courtier and agriculturalist. He was generally known as Sir Nigel ...

Henry Wyndham, 2nd Baron Leconfield Henry Wyndham, 2nd Baron Leconfield (31 July 1830 – 6 January 1901), was a British peer and Conservative Member of Parliament. Early life and education A direct descendant of Sir John Wyndham, Leconfield was the eldest surviving son of Geo ...

(1830–1901) * Hon. Percy Scawen Wyndham (1835–1911) * Hon. Constance Elizabeth Wyndham (21 November 1836 – 21 January 1920), married William Mure

Death

Lord Leconfield died in March 1869 at the age of 81 and was succeeded in the barony by his eldest surviving son

Henry Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainmen ...

. His third son, Percy, was the father of the politician and man of letters

George Wyndham George Wyndham, PC (29 August 1863 – 8 June 1913) was a British Conservative politician, statesman, man of letters, and one of The Souls. Background and education Wyndham was the elder son of the Honourable Percy Wyndham, third son of G ...

. His daughter, Caroline, married Colonel Sir

on 13 March 1851 at Petworth, Sussex. She died giving birth and is buried with her still-born child in the family vault at Bartons Lane Cemetery, Petworth, West Sussex.

References

*Charles Mosley (ed.), ''Burke's Peerage & Baronetage'', 106th edition, 1999, entry "Egremont" {{DEFAULTSORT:Leconfield, George Wyndham, 1st Baron 1787 births 1869 deaths Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

George George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...