William Henry Poulett, 6th Earl Poulett (22 September 1827 – 22 January 1899) was an English peer, landowner, army officer, and racehorse owner. In the
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
he was a Conservative.
Early life
When Poulett was born in 1827, his chance of inheriting the family estates seemed remote. He was the third son of Vice-Admiral the Hon. George Poulett RN (1786–1854), who was the second son of the 4th Earl and the brother of the 5th Earl, who already had three sons. His mother, Catherine Poulett, was a daughter of Sir George Dallas, 1st Baronet.''Burke's Peerage'', volume 2 (2003), p. 3203 He joined the
54th (West Norfolk) Regiment of Foot
The 54th Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1755. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Dorsetshire Regiment in 1881.
History
Early history
T ...
in 1840 and was educated at the
Royal Military College, Sandhurst
The Royal Military College (RMC) was a United Kingdom, British military academy for training infantry and cavalry Officer (armed forces), officers of the British Army, British and British Indian Army, Indian Armies. It was founded in 1801 at Gre ...
, passing out in 1842. Commissioned into the 54th Regiment, in 1846 he transferred to the 2nd Queen’s Royals, then from 1852 to 1857 was with the 22nd Regiment in India, taking part in the British expedition from
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...
to the Boroe Valley in 1853, and was with Brigadier-General Boileau at the storming of the heights.POULETT, 6th Earl , in ''Who Was Who'', online edition by Oxford University Press, 2014, accessed 3 August 2016 (Subscription site)
Inheritance
In 1857, news reached Poulett in India that both surviving sons of his uncle the 5th Earl had died: Amias Poulett on 20 February 1857, and Vere Poulett, Viscount Hinton, on 29 August 1857. As Poulett's own father and older brothers had also died, this left him unexpectedly as the heir presumptive to the family estates, and he returned to England. From 1858 to 1870, he hunted the Hambledon Foxhounds six days a week. In 1864, as foreseen, he succeeded his uncle, the 5th Earl Poulett, inheriting
Hinton House
Hinton House is a large country house near Hinton St George in Somerset, England.
History
The house started life as a medieval hall house and was rebuilt around 1500 by Sir Amias Paulet. Alterations were made for successive Lords Poulett by ...
and about 11,000 acres, mostly around
Hinton St George
Hinton St George is a village and parish in Somerset, England, situated outside Crewkerne, south west of Yeovil. The village has a population of 442.
It has a wide main street lined with hamstone cottages, some thatched. The village has a ...
, with a second country house at Granville Hall,
Droxford
Droxford ( Drokensford) is a village in Hampshire, England.
Geography
The village is clustered with slight ribbon development along its main, north–south, undulating road. It is entirely on the lower half of the western slopes of the Meon ...
. He became a racehorse owner, specialising in National Hunt, and owned The Lamb, winner of the
Grand National
The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Aintree, Merseyside, England. First run in 1839, it ...
in 1868 and 1871. Another of his horses, Benazal, won twenty-seven steeple-chases and other races. In ''
Who's Who
A Who's Who (or Who Is Who) is a reference work consisting of biographical entries of notable people in a particular field. The oldest and best-known is the annual publication ''Who's Who (UK), Who's Who'', a reference work on contemporary promin ...
'', Poulett gave his recreations as "Racing, hunting, steeple-chasing, shooting, driving, yachting, fishing, telegraphy, and photography". He was a member of the
Army and Navy Club
The Army and Navy Club, commonly known as The Rag, is a private members' club in London that was founded in 1837 for officers of the British Army, the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines.Royal Albert Yacht Club, the Royal London Yacht Club, and others.
Personal life
Poulett married three times. First, on 23 June 1849, he married Elizabeth Lavinia, daughter of Joseph Newman of
Landport
Landport is a district located on Portsea Island and is considered the city centre of modern-day Portsmouth, England. The district is centred around Commercial Road and encompasses the Guildhall, Civic Centre, Portsmouth and Southsea Stati ...
. However, he soon discovered she was already pregnant, and she admitted the father was a Capt. William Turnour Granville, with whom he heard she had been living in Dublin prior to their marriage. Poulett left her on 8 August 1849. She gave birth six months after their marriage to a son at
Southsea
Southsea is a seaside resort and a geographic area of Portsmouth, Portsea Island in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, England. Southsea is located 1.8 miles (2.8 km) to the south of Portsmouth's inner city-centre.
Southsea began as a f ...
,
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
:
*William Turnour Thomas Poulett, Viscount Hinton (15 December 1849 – 8 April 1909), unsuccessfully claimed peerage
A birth announcement appeared days after the birth, announcing Poulett and his wife had welcomed a son. In 1869, W. T. T. Poulett married Lydia Ann Shippey, the daughter of William Shippey, a general dealer.
She died in 1871. Later that year he married, secondly, Emma Sophia Johnson, who died in 1876. They had a son, born prior to their marriage, and a daughter.
*William Henry George Poulett (1 April 1870 – )
*Maud
In November 1871, W. T. T. Poulett petitioned the
Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes
In the history of the courts of England and Wales, the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes was created by the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857, which transferred the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts in matters matrimonial to the new cou ...
for a Declaration of Legitimacy, to establish that he was the lawful son of William Henry Poulett, now the 6th Earl. In 1875, he was living at the family's secondary estate, Grenville Hall, Droxford, under the
courtesy title
A courtesy title is a title that does not have legal significance but is rather used by custom or courtesy, particularly, in the context of nobility, the titles used by children of members of the nobility (cf. substantive title).
In some context ...
of Viscount Hinton. However, after the birth of William John Lydston Poulett in 1883, W. T. T. Poulett was again disowned.
Lastly, in 1879, he married Rosa, daughter of Alfred Hugh (de) Melville, an artist. They had three children:
* William John Lydston Poulett, Viscount Hinton (1883–1918)
* Lady Eleanor Augusta Rosa (9 October 1879 – )
* Lady Violet Nita (5 October 1880 – ), married Capt. Cecil John Talbot Rhys Wingfield (1881–1915; died of wounds received in
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
) and was the mother of Maj. Edward William Rhys Wingfield (1905–1984) who married Lady Norah Beryl Cayzer Rhys Jellicoe, daughter of Admiral-of-the-Fleet
Earl Jellicoe
Earl Jellicoe is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created, along with the subsidiary title Viscount Brocas, of Southampton in the County of Southampton, on 29 June 1925 for Admiral of the Fleet John Jellicoe, 1st Viscount J ...
Dispute
Following the 6th Earl's death, the Poulett earldom and its entailed estates were claimed by W. T. T. Poulett, and on 27 July 1903, on a report from its Committee of Privileges, the
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
determined the dispute in favour of the 6th Earl's fifteen-year-old son, William John Lydston Poulett. In a curious turn of events,
Wilhelmina Powlett, Duchess of Cleveland
Catherine Lucy Wilhelmina Powlett, Duchess of Cleveland (''née'' Stanhope; 1 June 1819 – 18 May 1901), also known as Lady Dalmeny and Lady Harry Vane, was an English courtier, historian and genealogist, best known for her 1889 work ''The ...
, the widow of a distant kinsman of the 6th Earl Poulett, left W. H. G. Poulett a bequest of £5,000 in her will, and he became a tea-planter in Ceylon.G. E. Cokayne, ''& al.'', ''The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant'', volume X, p. 624