© By Cheryl Bolen
Since I strive for authenticity in my Regency-era historicals,
especially in my Regent Mysteries, I try to use many personages who actually
existed. English Foreign Secretary Lord Castlereagh makes a few appearances in
my A Most Discreet Inquiry (Regent
Mysteries, Book 2).
Born Robert Stewart in Ireland in 1769, he was elevated to
Viscount Castlereagh at the age of 26 when his father became the Earl of
Londonderry. Two years earlier he had entered the English House of Commons,
where he would serve until his death in 1822 and which he would lead for the
last decade of his life.
Lord Castlereagh
The same year he entered the English Parliament, 1794, was
also the year in which he married Amelia (Emily) Hobart, daughter of John
Hobart, 2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire. Castlereagh's maternal
grandfather (Francis Seymour Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford) as
well as his father-in-law had both served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Lord
and Lady Castlereagh were devoted to each other but never had children. Lady
Castlereagh became well known in London as one of the patronesses of Almack's.
As Secretary of War in 1809, he challenged Foreign Secretary
George Canning to a duel at Putney Heath. In the duel, he shot Canning in the
leg and had to leave government for the next three years.
He returned in 1812, at the age of 43, becoming Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs, a position her held for ten tumultuous years, while
also leading the Tories in the House of Commons. Despite that he worked
tirelessly for his country to ensure a lasting European peace, he was extremely
unpopular not only with the populace he served but also among newspaper editors
and political cartoonists.
He succeeded his father as Marquess of Londonderry in 1821,
but since it was a non-representative Irish peerage, he could still serve as
leader of the House of Commons of Great Britain.
Two weeks before his suicide the next year he began
suffering from paranoia, which could be attributed to the years of abuse by an
angry citizenry and press, overwork, or even gout. He imagined himself
persecuted from every quarter and became irrational and incoherent. His devoted
wife continued sleeping with him but removed pistols and razors from his reach
and kept in close contact with her husband's physician, Dr. Bankhead, who had
cupped him.
Three days before his death he met with King George IV, who
became upset over Castlereagh's mental state, as did the Duke of Wellington,
with whom he was close. Knowing that he was losing his mind, Castlereagh left
London for Loring Hall, his country estate in Kent.
The morning of his death he became violent with his wife,
accusing her of being in a conspiracy against him. She left their bedroom to
call the doctor. That was when her husband went to his dressing room with a
small knife which he had managed to hide. He stabbed himself in the carotid
artery. Just as Dr. Bankhead entered the room, he said, "Let me fall on
your arm, Bankhead. It's all over!"
The nation was shocked. Even his bitter parliamentary
opponent Whig Henry Brougham mourned him. "Put all their other men together in one scale, and poor Castlereagh in the
other – single he plainly weighed them down," Brougham said. "Also he
was a gentleman, the only one amongst them."
Lord Byron did
not agree. He wrote over his grave:
Posterity will ne'er survey
A nobler grave than this:
Here lie the bones of Castlereagh:
Stop, traveller, and piss.
Posterity will ne'er survey
A nobler grave than this:
Here lie the bones of Castlereagh:
Stop, traveller, and piss.
Despite the circumstances of his death—attributed to
insanity—the longtime Foreign Secretary was buried in Westminster Abbey near
his political ally and mentor William Pitt. –Cheryl
Bolen keeps a blog, www.CherylsRegencyRamblings.wordpress.com.
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