Charles Wyndham


Charles Wyndham was born in 1796, the 5th child and 3rd son of George O’Brien Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont and Elizabeth Ilive. The first four children were born illegitimately, before the Earl married Miss Ilive in 1801, so Charles and his brothers Henry (later CO of the 10th) and George were illegitimate. The Earl, a patron of the painter J M W Turner, maintained around 15 mistresses and fathered more than 40 children. The painting of the three brothers, of which this is a detail, is by Sir William Beechey. It shows Charles in the uniform of the 10th Hussars c1814. In 1812, at the age of 16 he was a cornet in the 10th and a lieutenant in 1813 when the regiment sailed to Portugal. In a skirmish near Toulouse in April 1814, Charles and one trooper were wounded. The regimental history says, ‘A story was told of him, that he was a very good-looking young boy, and in one of the cavalry engagements he was at the mercy of the colonel of a French cavalry regiment, who, instead of cutting him down, lowered his sword, saying, “Allez, petit diable d’Anglais.”’

Charles was a signatory of the petition against Lt-Col George Quentin and was thus removed from the 10th Hussars in 1815. His military service after that is unclear but he reached the rank of Colonel. He married Hon Elizabeth Hepburne-Scott daughter of Hugh, 6th Lord Polwarth on 3 Oct 1835. They lived at Rogate in Sussex and had one son also called Charles. Colonel Charles Wyndham was MP for West Sussex from 1841 to 1847. He died on 18 Feb 1866.


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by Stephen Luscombe