George Carpenter, 1st Baron Carpenter

Lieutenant-General George Carpenter, 1st Baron Carpenter (10 February 1657 – 10 February 1731) was a British soldier who served as Governor of Minorca and as Commander-in-chief of all the forces in Scotland. During the Jacobite rising of 1715 he forced the rebels under Lord Derwentwater to surrender at discretion at Preston, thus securing the throne to the reigning British Royal family.

Background

Carpenter was the second son of Warncombe Carpenter and Eleanor (née Taylor) of Hereford. His father was the sixth son of Thomas Carpenter, Esq., of the Homme or Holme, in the parish of Dilwyn, Herefordshire.^[1] He was born at Livers Ocle in Ocle Pychard, Herefordshire (7 miles NE of Hereford City) not Hertfordshire.^[2][3][4]

In 1693, he married at St. Edmund by licence of the King to Alice, the widow of James Margetson, Esq., a daughter of William Caulfeild, 1st Viscount Charlemont, and Sarah, daughter of Charles Moore, 2nd Viscount Moore.^[3] They had two children:

• George Carpenter, later 2nd Baron Carpenter (d. 1749)
• Alicia Carpenter (1705? – before 1714)

Career

Carpenter, who was a younger son and was educated at a private school in the country, commenced his career as a page to the Earl of Montague in his Embassy to the court of France in 1671, and on returning in the next year, rode as a private gentleman in the 3rd Troop of Guards, from which station was then deemed as honourable introduction to a Military life.^[5]

Carpenter went through the posts of cornet, lieutenant, captain and major until he was advanced to that of lieutenant-colonel of the Earl of Peterborough's regiment, in which commission he continued thirteen years.^[1]

After his marriage in 1693 he purchased, for 1,800 guineas, a part of the Lady's dowry, the King's own regiment of dragoons, the command he retained until his decease.^[5]

He served in the battles in Ireland and warfare in Flanders, and |in Spain. He fought with "unblemished honour and reputation," with "courage, conduct, and humanity" and in 1705 he was made a brigadier-general. In 1707, at the battle of Almanza in Spain he commanded the rear, and brought up the last squadron in the retreat, which saved the baggage of the army.^[1]

At the battle of Almenara, in 1710, he was wounded and received "honours" from King Charles of Spain (who later became Emperor of Germany) for his "gallant conduct in the engagement." He was seriously wounded in defending the French and Spanish army breach of the English line at Brihuega. He was taken prisoner and later exchanged. In 1705 he was made a brigadier-general; in 1708 major-general; and in 1710 lieutenant-general.^[1] In 1715, he became Member of Parliament for Whitchurch in Hampshire, a seat he held until 1722.^[6] In 1715 he was also appointed "envoy extraordinary and plenipotentiary" to the Emperor of Germany who held him with "personal regard and esteem."^[1]

During the rebellion of 1715, Carpenter prevented the rebels from seizing Newcastle and from marching into Yorkshire. Major-General Charles Wills had stopped the rebel retreat and Carpenter cut off their escape and supplies leading to their eventual capitulation. In the beginning of February 1715/1716 further fighting was interceded by the Dukes of Marlborough and Montague.^[1][5]

In 1716 he was appointed governor of Minorca, and "commander in chief of his majesty’s forces in Scotland."

For his faithful services to the Crown he was elevated to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron Carpenter, of Killaghy in the County of Kilkenny, on 29 May 1719.^[5]

In 1722 he was chosen for a member of parliament for Westminster and served until 1727.^[1][6][7]

Lord Carpenter died on 10 February 1732 and was succeeded by his only son, George.^[5] He was interred near his wife in the chancel of the parish church of Owslebury in Hampshire, where a monument of marble was erected to his memory by his son.^[1]

Coat of arms

Lord Carpenter's Arms appear to be of French or Norman heritage, "Paly of six, argent and gules, on a chevron azure, 3 cross crosslets or." Crest, on a wreath a globe in a frame all or. Supporters, two horses, party-perfess, embattled argent and gules. Motto: "Per Acuta Belli" (Through the Asperities of War). These arms descend from John Carpenter, the younger (abt. 1372 – 1442) who was the noted Town Clerk of London during the reigns of King Henry V & King Henry VI.^[8]

These Arms are often referred to as the Hereford Arms, named for the later ancestral home of the Carpenter Family in Hereford, England. The Crest, supporters & motto apparently has changed several times over the centuries.^[9]

Sample of a medieval knight with an early Carpenter Coat of Arms on shield.

Sir William Boyd Carpenter (1841–1918), an English clergyman of the Established church of England, Bishop of Ripon, afterwards a Canon of Westminster and Chaplain to the reigning sovereign of England, wrote in a letter dated 7 August 1907 that his family bore the Hereford Arms. Sir Noel Paton, upon painting the Family Arms, informed him that the supporters were originally a round-handled sword, which in drawing over time became shortened, until nothing but the cross and globe were left beneath it. Those Hereford Arms were used by "John Carpenter, town clerk of London, who died 1442 A. D."^[9] His grandson John Boyd-Carpenter, Baron Boyd-Carpenter (1908–1998), continued the Arms into the new century by passing it down to his son, Thomas Boyd-Carpenter, who was himself knighted after a military career as a Lieutenant-General and for public service.^[9]

There is no direct male to male Carpenter descent connecting Lord Carpenter & Sir William Boyd Carpenter. The family connection is by marriage through the females in the family.^[3]

The Hereford Coat of Arms described above should not be confused with the Arms of Bishop Richard Carpenter (c1450s?–1503) presented in the "Visitations of the County of Oxford taken in 1566, 1574, and 1634, published in 1871, which describe the arms displayed in the buildings at the University in Oxford – "In the Lyberarye of Baliall College." – as recorded by the officials performing the visitations in those years. The Visitations describe the arms of Bishop Richard Carpenter (c1450s–1503) as: "Paly of nine Gu. and Az. on a chevron Arg. surmounted by a mitre Or, three cross crosslets of—nine pales alternating red and blue, with a silver chevron bearing three gold cross-crosslets.^[10]

References