Duke of Richmond and Lennox

“ He lived in Dublin, where his eccentric opinions and habits attracted attention. In 1789 some hostile remarks on Colonel Charles Lennox (afterwards fourth Duke of Richmond and Lennox) [q. v.] , in a pamphlet on Lennox's duel with the Duke of York, led to a duel between Swift and Lennox, which took place in a field near the Uxbridge Road, London, on 3 July. Swift, who was wounded, issued ‘A Letter to the King on the Conduct of Colonel Lennox,’ 1789. ”

“ Other Roman relics have been found at Duntocher, Cumbernauld and elsewhere. The shire forms part of the old Scottish territory of Lennox (Levenachs, “fields of the Leven”) , which embraced the Vale of the Leven and the basin of Loch Lomond, or all modern Dumbartonshire, most of Stirling and parts of the shires of Renfrew and Perth. It gave the title of the earldom created in 1174 by William the Lion and of the dukedom conferred by Charles II. on his natural son, Charles, duke of Richmond and Lennox. In 1702 the Lennox estates were sold to the marquis of Montrose. ”

“ LENNOX, CHARLES, second Duke of Richmond, Lennox and Aubigny (1701–1750) , only son of Charles Lennox, first duke [q. v.] , and grandson of Charles II, was born in London on 18 May 1701 (Wood, ii. 105) . He entered the army and was made captain in the royal regiment of horseguards 5 Sept. 1722. In 1722, during the lifetime of his father, when his style was Earl of March, he was elected M.P. for both Chichester and Newport (1722–3) , but sat for the former place (Returns of Members of Parliament, ii. 55, 56) . ”

“ STUART, LUDOVICK, second Duke of Lennox and Duke of Richmond (1574–1624) , eldest son of Esmé, first duke of Lennox [q. v.] , by his wife, Catherine de Balsac d'Entragues, was born on 29 Sept. 1574. After the death of the first duke in Paris, 26 May 1583, ‘the king,’ says the author of the ‘History of James Sext,’ ‘was without all quietness of spirit till he should see some of his posterity to possess him in his father's honours and rents’ (p. 192) . He therefore sent the master of Gray to convoy the young duke to Scotland, and they arrived at Leith on 13 Nov. ”

“ As his name argued, he was descended from a good stock, but his family had gradually sunk in the scale of life till he was glad to accept a situation in His Majesty's Revenue Office at Edinburgh. Mr. Lennox was certainly gifted in his personal appearance, but this was in a way much lessened by his intolerable conceit. It is not often that we find big men consequential, but Mr. Lennox was the "exceptio regulam probat." He was conceited of himself, and his height, and looks. He was conceited of his name, being distantly connected with the Duke of Richmond. ”

“ He died in London on 16 Feb. 1858. He was twice married: first, on 11 March 1820, to Lady Mary Lennox, eldest daughter of the fourth Duke of Richmond, who died 7 Dec. 1847; secondly, on 11 Dec. 1855, to Margaret Gordon. ”

“ He entered the army, saw active service in France, and was mentioned for his bravery at the battle of Minden in 1759, where he served as colonel of his regiment. He received a Court appointment, but, disagreeing with George III., resigned and joined the opposition Ministry. In 1765 he was sent to Paris as Ambassador Extraordinary, became a Privy Councilor, and the following year was appointed Secretary of State for the South. He was a strong supporter of the American colonies in their demands for redress of grievances ”

“ The Patriots had at this crisis a great addition to their strength, in the accession of James, the twentieth Earl of Kildare, successively Marquis and Duke of Leinster. This nobleman, in the prime of life, married to the beautiful Emily Lennox, daughter of the Duke of Richmond, followed Dorset to England, and presented to the King, with his own hand, one of the boldest memorials ever addressed to a sovereign by a subject. ”

“ Many still survive to tell of an impressive, and gloomy pageant. On the 4th September, 1819, previous to their transfer to the chancel of the Anglican Cathedral, were exposed in state in the Château, the mortal remains of the late Governor-General, His Grace Charles Gordon Lennox, Duke of Richmond, Lennox and Aubigny, who, on the 28th August, 1819, had died of hydrophobia. ”

“ LENNOX, CHARLES GORDON-, fifth Duke of Richmond (1791–1860) , the eldest son of Charles, fourth duke [q. v.] , was born on 3 Aug. 1791. He was educated at Westminster School, and was gazetted lieutenant in the 13th regiment of (light) dragoons on 21 June 1810. After serving as aide-de-camp to his father, then lord-lieutenant of Ireland, Lord March, as he was called by courtesy, joined the forces in Portugal as aide-de-camp and assistant military secretary to the Duke of Wellington (July 1810 to July 1814) . ”

“ LENNOX, Sir WILBRAHAM OATES (1830–1897) , general royal engineers, fourth son of Lord John George Lennox (1793–1873) , second son of the fourth Duke of Richmond, was born on 4 May 1830 at Molecomb House, Goodwood, Sussex. His mother was Louisa Frederica (d. 12 Jan. 1863) , daughter of Captain the Hon. John Rodney, M.P., third son of Admiral Lord Rodney. He was privately educated and, after passing through the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, received a commission as second lieutenant in the royal engineers on 27 June 1848 His further commissions were dated: lieutenant 7 Feb. ”

“ Having dwelt at considerable length upon stage coaches and stage coachmen, I now turn to amateurs who have distinguished themselves on the box, and who were perfectly competent to take the reins in the event of an accident to the regular driver. Here I am reminded that upon one occasion, when Bramble was driving the Chichester coach to London, and was prevented completing the journey from an accident, the present Duke of Richmond, then Earl of March, took his place, and landed his passengers safe and sound at the "White Horse Cellar," Piccadilly. ”

“ He also gave directions that while his body was to be buried at Aubigny, his heart should be embalmed and sent to the king of Scots, to whose care he commended his children. An anonymous portrait of Lennox belonged in 1866 to the Earl of Home (Cat. First Loan Exhib. No. 459) . By his wife, Catherine de Balsac d'Entragues, Lennox had two sons and three daughters: Ludovick, second duke [q. v.] ; Esmé, third duke; Henrietta, married to George, first marquis of Huntly; Mary, married to John, earl of Mar ”

“ The murder of Lord Darnley, now created earl of Rosse, lord of Ardmanoch and duke of Albany, took place in February 1567, and in July his only son James, by Mary’s abdication, became king of Scotland. The old earl of Lennox, now grandfather of his sovereign, obtained the regency in 1570, but in the next year was killed in the attack made on the parliament at Stirling, being the third earl in succession to meet with a violent death. ”

“ He was the son, by the Earl of Lennox, a royal Stewart, of that daughter whom Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII., and widow of James IV., bore to her second husband, the Earl of Angus. Darnley’s father regarded himself as next to the Scottish crown, for the real nearest heir, the head of the Hamiltons, the Duke of Chatelherault, Lennox chose to consider as illegitimate. After playing a double and dishonest part in the troubled years following the death of James V., Lennox retired to England with his wife, a victim of the suspicions of Elizabeth. ”

“ He remained in London till 1543, when he returned with the Scots nobles taken prisoners at Solway Moss, residing mostly with the Earl of Glencairn. In 1544 he was employed by the Earl of Lennox in negotiations with Henry VIII relative to the marriage of Lennox to Lady Margaret Douglas, the king of England's niece. ”

“ Both Garland and Henslowe had been Queen Elizabeth’s men, and it is possible that, when these men were left stranded by her death in 1603, they found a new patron in Lennox. John Garland had joined the Duke of York’s men by 1610, and it has been suggested that this company may have been a continuation of Lennox’s.
xxiii. THE DUKE OF YORK’S (PRINCE CHARLES’S) MEN
The Duke of York’s Men (1608–12) ; The Prince’s Men (1612–16) ”

“ On the same day the earldom of Lennox was given to Esme Stewart, first cousin of the king and grandson of the 3rd earl, he being son of John Stewart (adopted heir of the maréchal d’Aubigny) and his French wife, Anne de la Queulle. In the following year Esme was created duke of Lennox, earl of Darnley, Lord Aubigny, Tarboulton and Dalkeith, and other favours were heaped upon him, but the earl of Ruthven sent him back to France where he died soon after. ”

“ In a letter written to him on the 9th August, referring to the success of the Earl of Lennox, who had just married Henry’s niece, Margaret Douglas, and had gone to Scotland to seize the government in English interest, Katharine says: “The good speed which Lennox has had, is to be imputed to his serving a master whom God aids. He might have served the French king, his old master, many years without attaining such a victory.” ”

“ The Duke of Lennox is very sumptuously arrayed in armour, partly blue, and partly gilt and graven, and his charger is caparisoned with cloth of gold, embroidered with pearls. Besides this he has four spare horses, led by his pages, in housings equally gorgeous and costly. These pages have cassock coats, and Venetian hose, of cloth of silver, laid with gold lace, and caps with gold bands and white feathers, and white buskins. His rétinue consists of forty gentlemen and yeomen, and four trumpeters. His companions-at-arms are all splendidly accoutred, and mounted on richly-caparisoned chargers. ”

“ After the execution of Morton on 6 June 1581 the influence of Lennox, not merely with the king but in Scotland generally, had reached its zenith. So perfect was the harmony between him and the kirk that even Mary Stuart herself became suspicious that he might intend to betray her interests and throw in his lot with the protestants (Mary to Beaton, 10 Sept. 1581 in Labanoff, v. 258) ; but the assurances of the Duke of Guise dispelled her doubts (ib. p. 278) . On 5 Aug. 1581 he was created duke (Reg. P. C. Scotl. iii. 413) , and on the 12th he was appointed master of the wardrobe. ”

“ Thus there was reason enough for Elizabeth’s later clemency towards the Lennoxes. It suited the purpose of queen and prisoner that they should now join issue against the murderess, “the hure,” against “Bothwell’s wench.” It suited Lennox well that he should be installed guardian of the future James I, and Lady Lennox, as his grandmother, was now accorded a far more important position than she could have taken had her daughter-in-law been above suspicion. It is true that financially she was never unembarrassed. ”

“ It has been also seen, that the hasty collation, made by the nobles at Hampton Court, of these pretended letters, [Pg 314] with others, “long since heretofore written” and furnished by Elizabeth herself, is, in truth, no collation at all, or one upon which no dependence be placed. Fourth, “The Earl of Lennox, both in public, and in a private letter he wrote to his own wife, so expressed himself, that it is plain he not only thought the Queen guilty, but believed the authenticity of her letters to Bothwell.” ”

“ It was a dangerous game to play, for it meant conspiracy; and so long as the Lennoxes and their effeminate, lanky son were basking in Elizabeth's favour, the English queen held her trump card. But Lady Lennox was intriguing and ambitious, the head of English Catholic disaffection, and could only be held to Elizabeth's side by delusive hopes of the English succession for her son. ”

“ That, on the approach of the English army, they would unite with it with all the force which they could raise, and accept and obey the King as director and protector of the realm.
If the earls observed these conditions, Henry undertook that their lands should not be injured in the invasion, that Grlencairn should have a pension of a thousand crowns, and Lennox should have the regency, under conditions of general obedience to advice from England. If the Queen died, the claim of Lennox to the succession should be recognized in preference to that of Arran ”

“ The most worthless coward might have thus revenged himself upon those he hated; and law and justice would have degenerated into despotism, or civil anarchy. The Queen, therefore, informed Lennox, that although, as she had already written, she had summoned a Parliament, and should lay the matter of the murder before it, [Pg 66] it was never her intention to allow it to sleep in the mean time. Her Lords and Council would of course continue to exert themselves, but her whole nobility could not be assembled till the Parliament met. ”

“ With a handsome person and French accomplishments, he soon captivated the young monarch, who could not live at any period of his life without a favourite. He created Aubigny captain of the guard, first lord of the bed-chamber, and finally Duke of Lennox, being the nephew of the late earl, and cousin of Darnley. Associated with Lennox was another and far more deep and designing Stuart—James, commonly called Captain Stuart, the second son of Lord Ochiltree. ”

“ Her position for some years was most equivocal, since, in spite of her close relationship to the queen dowager of Scotland, she could not present to this lady, her sister-in-law, her husband Earl Lennox, traitor to Scotland, or her sons, in whom the Tudor blood was tainted by that of Lennox. She lived, however, in stately fashion in Yorkshire, followed eagerly the ritual of the Romish Church, and educated her children in it. ”

“ After the assassination of Moray, Lennox was on 16 June 1570 appointed lieutenant-general of the kingdom; and on 12 July he was on the recommendation of Elizabeth—who, however, resolved to detain the Lady Margaret in England—chosen regent. With no party in Scotland was his election popular; and it so provoked the queen's sympathisers that in a parliament held at Linlithgow on 10 Aug., they declared their intention never to acknowledge him as regent, while Kirkcaldy of Grange resolved openly to espouse the cause of the queen, and to hold the castle of Edinburgh on her behalf. ”