AFTER VANDYCK.
THE EARL WAS KILLED IN ACTION, 1643.
Full length. Drab coat and boots. Brown trunks. Lace collar. Sword-hand on hip. Countess holding her husband’s hand. Blue dress trimmed with pearls. Ringlets. Black page in scarlet dress, trunks, and hose. Badge on breast.
THE eldest son of William Dormer, by Alice, daughter of Richard Molyneux, of Sefton, county Lancaster. He succeeded his grandfather, who had been created first a Baronet and then Baron Dormer of Wenge, county Bucks (by James I.), in these titles, but was himself raised to the dignity of Viscount Ascot, and Earl of Carnarvon by Charles I. In early life he travelled further than most young nobles of the time, not only visiting France and Italy, but also Spain, Turkey, etc. etc. Clarendon seems to regret that ‘he brought home some foreign tastes.’ But another biographer (David Lloyd) says that ‘if he had contracted a taste for gambling he hated drunkenness most perfectly.’
He took his degree of Deacon of Civil Law at Oxford, but did not come forward publicly till the impeachment of Strafford, whom he strove to befriend. On the rising of the Buckinghamshire men, under Hampden, when they came to London in 1642 to present ‘seditious petitions’ to both Houses of Parliament, Lord Carnarvon went down into the county, where he owned a large property, to raise troops in conjunction with other Royalists, and used all his influence to advance the King’s cause. He was with Charles at York, and was one of the Peers who signed ‘the Declaration.’ He afterwards joined His Majesty at Nottingham, with a force of a thousand men levied and equipped at his own cost; so zealous was he in the Royal service that his name was excepted from the list of those to whom the Parliament offered a pardon, in its instructions to the General Lord Essex.
Carnarvon was present at almost every action of importance about this time, and his courage, which often amounted to rashness, made him much beloved by the soldiery. At the battle of Edgehill (when in command of a squadron of horse under Prince Rupert) he pursued a body of the rebel cavalry so fast and so far, as to endanger the safety of his own men. He was appointed General of the Horse in the army of Lord Hertford, whom he joined in the west of England.
He maintained his reputation for valour at the battle of Stratton, and at Chewton, in the vicinity of Wells, he charged, Lord Clarendon says, ‘with incomparable gallantry, for Lord Carnarvon always charges home.’ But once more his hot pursuit brought him into imminent danger, when venturing too near the enemy’s quarters he encountered a superior force of Sir William Waller’s dragoons; Prince Maurice hastened to the rescue, but was himself wounded, unhorsed, and in his turn saved by Carnarvon, who rallied his men, and again sent the rebels flying. At the battle of Roundway Down he served as volunteer in Sir John Byron’s regiment, and greatly contributed towards gaining the victory; he then marched on Dorchester, at that time fortified by the rebels, which soon surrendered. But on the arrival of Prince Maurice there arose a difference of opinion between them.
Lord Carnarvon, being ‘full of honour and justice,’ was desirous of restraining the licence of the soldiery, a point on which the Prince was somewhat lax. The result was, that Carnarvon threw up his command, and marched on Gloucester, which the King was besieging. He had scarcely arrived when Lord Essex compelled the Royalists to raise the siege, and they accordingly took their way towards London. But they had not proceeded far when they were obliged to give battle, and on the 20th of September was fought the memorable battle of Newbury, when so many of England’s proudest chivalry were laid low. Lord Carnarvon, as usual, had been rash in pursuit, and was returning carelessly, when a stray trooper recognised his person, and closing on him suddenly, ran him through the body. He did not survive above an hour, but was most anxious in his inquiries as to the safety of his beloved master. A friend who was attending on him inquired if there were any last request he would wish conveyed to the King. ‘Nay,’ he replied, ‘I will not die with a suit in my mouth to any king, save the King of Heaven.’
Lord Clarendon, after paying a fine tribute to his memory, sums up by saying, ‘If he had lived he would have been a great ornament to his profession, and by his death the King found a sensible weakness in the army.’