Sir Robert Dormer of Wing, 2nd Baronet, 1st Earl of Carnarvon, 1st Viscount Ascott, 2nd Baron Dormer of Wing r Wenge'' (c. 1610 – 20 September 1643) was an English peer. He was the son of Sir William Dormer, and thus a grandson of Robert Dormer, 1st Baron Dormer. His mother was Alice Molyneux, daughter of Sir Richard Molyneux, 1st Baronet, and Frances Gerard. Dormer received the title Baron Dormer at the age of six and on 2 August 1628, at age 18, he was raised to Viscount Ascott and was created Earl of Carnarvon.

Early life

At age six, Dormer was left a ward to the

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

. His father had left him a rich peer at an early age. The King then sold Dormer's wardship to Philip Herbert, then Earl of Montgomery, for £4000. Dormer had been brought up as a Catholic and would become a high-living Catholic courtier, in danger, infuriating to hard-line Parliamentarians. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and

Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and the fourth-oldest college of the university. The college was founde ...

, where he matriculated in 1624, and was created MA in 1627 and DCL in 1642. He was, according to the seventeenth-century biographer David Lloyd, "extreamly wild in his youth", and addicted to gambling and hunting. He and his wife are recorded as regular performers in masques at court. He was an ardent

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...

and defying his father-in-law he fought for King Charles I in the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

. King James I was entertained at Ascott Park by his mother, Anne, Lady Dormer, in 1620.

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I. She was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and List of English royal consorts, Queen of Engl ...

had visited in 1612.

Marriage, career, and later years

On 27 February 1625, at the age of fifteen, he was married to his guardian's daughter, Lady Anna Sophie Herbert (d. 1643), which secured her future as Dormer was one of the wealthiest men in England at the time. Anna was the daughter of

Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke and 1st Earl of Montgomery, (10 October 158423 January 1650) was an English courtier, nobleman, and politician active during the reigns of James I of England, James I and Charles I of England, Charles I. ...

and Lady Susan de Vere, the youngest daughter of the

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...

courtier, poet, and playwright, Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, the Oxfordians'

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

. On 2 June 1641, he was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire. In 1642, he joined the king at York and was one of the peers who signed the declaration of 13 June, agreeing to stand by the king, and the further declaration of 15 June, disavowing the king's alleged intention to make war against Parliament. Lady Carnarvon died on 3 June 1643 of smallpox . Anecdotes of her are to be found in the ''Strafford Papers'' (ii, 47) and the ''Sydney Papers'' (ii, 621) and a poem addressed to her is printed in ''Choice Drollery'', 1656. Her portrait and that of her eldest son, Charles, were part of the exhibition of

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (; ; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy. The seventh child of ...

's works at the

Grosvenor Gallery The Grosvenor Gallery was an art gallery in London founded in 1877 by Sir Coutts Lindsay and his wife Blanche. Its first directors were J. Comyns Carr and Charles Hallé. The gallery proved crucial to the Aesthetic Movement because it provid ...

in 1887. Carnarvon was killed at the

first Battle of Newbury The First Battle of Newbury was a battle of the First English Civil War that was fought on 20 September 1643 between a Royalist army, under the personal command of King Charles, and a Parliamentarian force led by the Earl of Essex. Following ...

on 20 September 1643 by a lone trooper who chanced upon him returning from a successful cavalry charge. As he lay dying he was asked if he had one final request of the King. "No", he replied, "in an hour like this, I have no prayer but to the King of Heaven."Warburton, loc cit, pg 296. The different accounts of the manner of his death are collected in Mr Money's account of the battle (2nd ed. pg. 90). There is also an elegy on his death in Sir Francis Wortley's ''Characters and Elegies'', 1646. Carnarvon was buried firstly at Jesus College Chapel at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, but his body was removed in 1650 to a family burial place in

Wing, Buckinghamshire Wing, known in antiquated times as Wyng, is a village and civil parish in east Buckinghamshire, England. The village is on the main A418 road between Aylesbury and Leighton Buzzard. It is about north-east of Aylesbury, west of Leighton Buzz ...

. Dormer was succeeded by his eldest son,

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 ''* ...

, who died in 1709 and with him the earldom of Carnarvon in the family of Dormer became extinct.

References

External links

''Description of the Van Dyck Portrait of Lord Carnarvon''
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Carnarvon, Robert Dormer, 1st Earl of 1610s births 1643 deaths 1st Earl of Carnarvon Lord-lieutenants of Buckinghamshire Cavaliers English military personnel killed in action People killed in the English Civil War People educated at Eton College Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford