George Carpenter, 1st Baron Carpenter

George Carpenter, 1st Baron Carpenter of Killaghy
Lord Carpenter by John Faber Jr, after Johan van Diest, about 1719 or soon after.
Born	10 February 1657 Ocle Pychard, Herefordshire, England
Died	10 February 1732 (aged 74–75) Longwood House, Hampshire England
Buried	Owslebury
Allegiance	Great Britain
Service/branch	Cavalry
Years of service	1672–1725
Rank	Lieutenant General
Unit	Colonel 3rd the Kings Own 1703-1732
Commands held	Commander-in-Chief North Britain (sic) 1716-1725 Governor of Menorca (sic)
Battles/wars	Nine Years' War The Boyne Aughrim War of the Spanish Succession Almansa Almenara Brihuega Jacobite rising of 1715 Preston
Awards	MP for Newtownards[lower-alpha 1] 1703-1705 Whitchurch 1715-1722 Westminster 1722-27

Lieutenant-General George Carpenter, 1st Baron Carpenter of Killaghy (10 February 1657 – 10 February 1731) was a British army officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1715 to 1727. He was Commander-in-Chief in Scotland between 1716 and 1725.

Life

The church at Ocle Pychard

Carpenter was born 10 February 1657 in Ocle Pychard, Herefordshire, youngest of seven children. His parents were Warncombe and Eleanor Carpenter, whose family had owned property in the county for over 400 years, the main estate being Homme near Dilwyn.^[1] Herefordshire was part of the Royalist heartland during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and Warncombe served in the army of Charles I.

In 1671, Carpenter was appointed as Page^{[lower-alpha 2]} to Ralph Montagu, Charles II's Envoy to Louis XIV of France. He returned home the next year and began a military career that lasted until 1725.

Career

Carpenter's appointment to Montagu's household shows his family were well-connected; the Montagus supported Parliament in the Civil Wars but were key players in the 1660 Restoration. Ralph's brother Edward, the Earl of Sandwich^{[lower-alpha 3]} was a close associate of the future James II before his death at the Battle of Solebay in 1672. Ralph Montagu's role as Envoy was extremely sensitive as the 1670 Secret Treaty of Dover committed Charles to support France in the deeply unpopular Anglo-Dutch War of 1672-74.^{[lower-alpha 4]} Despite this, Montagu opposed James during the Exclusion Crisis, supported William III in the 1688 Glorious Revolution and later became a Whig. These connections were an important element in Carpenter's career.

Almansa, April 1707; Carpenter's cavalry charges mitigated an Allied defeat

In 1685, Carpenter joined the 'Earl of Peterborough's Regiment of Horse' a new regiment raised when James II expanded his army after the Monmouth rebellion.^{[lower-alpha 5][2]} The Earl of Peterborough^{[lower-alpha 6]} was a Catholic who remained loyal to James in 1688 and was replaced as Colonel by Edward Villiers. During the Nine Years War, Carpenter served in Ireland as Lt-Colonel of what was now 'Villiers Regiment,' fighting at the Boyne and Aughrim. When the Treaty of Limerick ended the war in Ireland in October 1691, the regiment returned to England.^[3]

In 1693 Carpenter married Alice Margetson, daughter of the Irish peer William Caulfeild, Viscount Charlemont and a widow whose previous husband John Margetson died at the first Siege of Limerick in 1690. In January 1694, Brigadier-General Richard Leveson became Colonel and as Leveson's Regiment of Horse the unit was based in Flanders until the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697; Carpenter's son George was born in 1697 in Ghent. In 1703 he purchased the position of Colonel in 3rd the Kings Own regiment, acquired the estates of Baramount and Killaghy in County Kilkenny and became Member of Parliament for Newtownards in the Irish Parliament.^[4]

James Stanhope, Carpenter's friend and political ally

During the War of the Spanish Succession, Carpenter was appointed Quartermaster and General of Cavalry in the Anglo-Dutch force led by Charles, 3rd Earl of Peterborough sent to Spain in 1704 to support Archduke Charles, Austrian candidate for King of Spain. In 1706 James Stanhope was appointed English Minister in Spain; at Almansa in 1707, Carpenter's repeated cavalry charges mitigated an Allied defeat by saving the guns and baggage train. Stanhope replaced Peterborough as military commander in 1708; Carpenter took part in the victory at Almenara in 1710 but a few months later was badly wounded and taken prisoner with many others including Stanhope at Brihuega. This ended the war in Spain in favour of [Philip V of Spain|Phillip V]]; Carpenter was later exchanged and promoted to Lieutenant-General.^[5]

Stanhope was a prominent Whig ^{[lower-alpha 7]} and when George I succeeded Queen Anne in 1714, Carpenter was nominated Envoy to Emperor Charles VI. Before taking this position the Jacobite rising of 1715 broke out and Carpenter was put in charge of government forces in Northern England. He prevented the Jacobites seizing Newcastle, forcing them into the Battle of Preston where they were attacked by troops under Major-General Charles Wills. The first assaults were repulsed but the Jacobites were surrounded by Wills and Carpenter and they surrendered on terms.^[6] Wills and Carpenter served together in Spain and had quarrelled at some point; Carpenter later claimed Wills was taking all the credit for Preston and challenged him to a duel which was prevented by mutual friends.^[5][4]

Carpenter was returned as Member of Parliament (MP) for Whitchurch in Hampshire at the 1715 general election. He was appointed governor of Menorca and Commander-in-Chief, North Britain (sic) in 1716 and Baron Carpenter of Killaghy in the Peerage of Ireland in 1719. In December 1722 he was elected MP for Westminster after the results of the 1722 general election were declared void. He did not stand at the 1727 general election.^[7]

Carpenter died on 10 February 1732 a few months after his wife and was buried in the church of Owslebury in Hampshire.

Family

George and Alice (ca 1660 - 7 October 1731) had two children;

• George Carpenter, later 2nd Baron Carpenter (20 April 1697 - 12 July 1749); like his father, he had a long career as both soldier and MP;
• Alicia Carpenter (1705? – died before 1714);

Alice also had two daughters from a previous marriage;

• Anne Margetson (ca 1680 - 1693);
• Sarah Ponsonby (ca 1681 - May 1733); married (1) Hugh Colville, (2) Earl of Bessborough;

Notes

References