General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Joseph Yorke, 1st Baron Dover KB, PC (24 June 1724 – 2 December 1792), styled The Honourable Joseph Yorke until 1761 and The Honourable Sir Joseph Yorke between 1761 and 1788, was a British soldier, diplomat and Whig politician.

Background

Yorke was the third son of

Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, (1 December 16906 March 1764) was an England, English lawyer and politician who served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. He was a close confidant of the Duke of Newcastle, Prime Minister between 1 ...

, by Margaret, daughter of Charles Cocks.

Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke, Privy Council of the United Kingdom, PC, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (9 March 1720 – 16 May 1790), styled Viscount Royston between 1754 and 1764, was a British politician and writer. Life The eldest ...

Charles Yorke Charles Yorke PC (30 December 172220 January 1770) was a British politician who briefly served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. His father was also Lord Chancellor, and he began his career as a Member of Parliament. He served success ...

and James Yorke were his brothers.thepeerage.com General Joseph Yorke, 1st and last Lord Dover, Baron of the Town and Port of Dover
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Career

Yorke was commissioned an ensign in the

2nd Regiment of Foot Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarchy; due to this, it often ...

on 25 April 1741, and was promoted to lieutenant in the

1st Regiment of 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 ...

on 24 April 1743. Yorke served in the

War of the Austrian Succession The War of the Austrian Succession was a European conflict fought between 1740 and 1748, primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italian Peninsula, Italy, the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Related conflicts include King Ge ...

as an aide-de-camp to the

Duke of Cumberland Duke of Cumberland is a peerage title that was conferred upon junior members of the British royal family, named after the historic county of Cumberland. History The Earldom of Cumberland, created in 1525, became extinct in 1643. The dukedom w ...

, and fought in the

Battle of Fontenoy The Battle of Fontenoy took place on 11 May 1745 during the War of the Austrian Succession, near Tournai, then in the Austrian Netherlands, now Belgium. A French army of 50,000 under Maurice, comte de Saxe, Marshal Saxe defeated a Pragmatic Ar ...

on 11 May 1745. On 27 May, he became captain and lieutenant-colonel, commanding a company in the 2nd Guards. On 1 November 1749, he was appointed an aide-de-camp to the King, and on 18 March 1755, colonel of the 9th Regiment of Foot. He became a Major-General in 1758, a

Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

in 1760 and a full General in 1777. In 1749 he was appointed Secretary to the British Embassy in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Two years later he became Minister Plenipotentiary to the United Provinces, a post he held for the next thirty years. He was involved in the

Anglo-Prussian Convention The Anglo-Prussian Convention was agreed on 11 April 1758 between Great Britain and the Kingdom of Prussia and formalised the alliance between them that had effectively existed since the Convention of Westminster in 1756. Both kingdoms agreed no ...

in 1758. His post was upgraded to that of ambassador in 1761. During this period he also sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

for

East Grinstead East Grinstead () is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the northeast corner of the county, bord ...

between 1751 and 1761, for

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

between 1761 and 1774 and for

Grampound Grampound () is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Grampound with Creed, in the Cornwall (district), Cornwall district, in the ceremonial county of Cornwall, England. It is at an ancient crossing point of the River Fal and ...

between 1774 and 1780. He was appointed a Knight Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

(KB) in 1761 and sworn of the Privy Council in 1768. In 1788 he was raised to the peerage as Lord Dover, Baron of the Town and Port of Dover, in the County of Kent.

Family

Lord Dover married Christiana Charlotte Margaret, daughter of Johan Henrik, Baron de Stöcken, a Danish nobleman, in 1783. They had no children. He died in December 1792, aged 68, when the barony became extinct. Lady Dover only survived her husband by three months and died in March 1793.

Arms

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dover, Joseph Yorke, 1st Baron 1724 births 1792 deaths 11th Hussars officers Barons in the Peerage of Great Britain Peers of Great Britain created by George III British Army generals British Life Guards officers Yorke, Joseph Yorke, Joseph Yorke, Joseph Yorke, Joseph Yorke, Joseph Knights Companion of the Order of the Bath Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Dover Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain Yorke, Joseph Yorke, Joseph

Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

Ambassadors of Great Britain to the Dutch Republic People educated at Newcome's School Royal Norfolk Regiment officers 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars officers 5th Royal Irish Lancers officers Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Grampound Coldstream Guards officers Grenadier Guards officers British Army personnel of the War of the Austrian Succession