Charles Duncombe, 2nd Earl of Feversham

British politician

Charles Duncombe from the Roll of Honour published in The Illustrated London News on 30 September 1916. Arms of Duncombe: Per chevron engrailed gules and argent, three talbot's heads erased counterchanged

Lieutenant-Colonel Charles William Reginald Duncombe, 2nd Earl of Feversham (8 May 1879 – 15 September 1916), known as Viscount Helmsley from 1881 to 1915, was a British Conservative Party politician and soldier.

## Origins[edit]

Charles Duncombe was born on 8 May 1879, the son of William Duncombe, Viscount Helmsley, elder son of William Duncombe, 1st Earl of Feversham, and Lady Muriel Frances Louisa, daughter of Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 19th Earl of Shrewsbury.[1] His father William, Viscount Helmsley, died in 1881,[2] and so the viscountcy thus passed to Charles Duncombe.

Duncombe was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford, gaining a blue in polo with OUPC.[3] He was also a member of Apollo University Lodge.[4]

Duncombe lived at Duncombe Park and, when in London, at 87 Eaton Square.[5] He became master of the Sinnington Hunt in 1904.[2] He was a member of the Carlton Club, Turf Club, the Bachelors' Club and White's.[5][1]

## Political career[edit]

Duncombe was appointed an assistant private secretary (unpaid) to Lord Selborne, First Lord of the Admiralty, in June 1902.[6] He was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Thirsk and Malton in 1906 and held the seat until he inherited his title on the death of his grandfather in 1915,[1][7] becoming a member of the House of Lords.

He was an outspoken opponent of women's suffrage;[8] a 1908 profile noted that he "is a very ardent adherent of any cause he espouses; indeed his keenness is one of the remarkable traits of his character."[2]

## Military career and death in action[edit]

Duncombe joined the Yorkshire Hussars, and was promoted to Lieutenant on 21 May 1902,[9] rising to become Lieutenant Colonel before transferring as a battalion commander of the King's Royal Rifle Corps.[5]

He enlisted for active service in the First World War, and was killed in action on 15 September 1916 at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, while commanding 21st Bn (Yeoman Rifles) King's Royal Rifle Corps. The battalion was formed in 1915 at Helmsley.

Richard Holmes makes that claim that Duncombe took his deerhound to war, and that it was killed and buried with him,[10] although this was refuted in 2014 by a young relative, who said that the dog survived, and was looked after by then Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, who was a great friend of Duncombe.[11]

Charles Duncombe, Lord Helmsley, lies in the AIF Burial Ground near the village of Flers on the Somme.[12]

## Marriage and children[edit]

Duncombe married Lady Marjorie Blanche Eva Greville, daughter of Francis Greville, 5th Earl of Warwick, in 1904. They had two sons and one daughter:

* Charles Duncombe, 3rd Earl of Feversham, who also became a Conservative politician.
* Hon. David, killed in a car accident in 1927, aged 17.
* Lady (Mary) Diana, (1905–1943), married Lt William Greville Worthington (d.1942), RNVR, of Kingston Russell, Dorset. They had issue Capt. Charles William David Worthington (b. 1930) who married as his second wife (he being her second husband) Sara Stucley (b. 1942), youngest daughter of Sir Dennis Stucley, 5th Baronet.

The Dowager Lady Feversham married the Conservative politician Gervase Beckett in 1917. She died in July 1964, aged 79.

## Notes[edit]

1. ^ a b c "Members after 1832". membersafter1832.historyofparliamentonline.org. The History of Parliament. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
2. ^ a b c Mannin, Charles A. (1908). Yorkshire leaders; social and political. London, Queenhithe Print.
3. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20141025122048/http://www.oxforduniversitypoloclub.com/index.php/archive. Archived from the original on 25 October 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2013. `{{cite web}}`: Missing or empty `|title=` (help)
4. ^ Oxford Freemasons, J Mordaunt Crook & J Daniel (2018), p.207
5. ^ a b c Dod's Parliamentary Companion 1916. Dod's Parliamentary Companion. 1916. p. 52.
6. ^ "Court Circular". The Times. No. 36797\. London. 18 June 1902. p. 12.
7. ^ "Peerages: of Feversham (Earldom)". peerages.historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
8. ^ Hockenhull, Tom (2022). Kelleher, Richard (ed.). Defaced!: Money, Conflict, Protest. Fitzwilliam Museum. pp. 60–61. ISBN 978-1-913645-33-5.
9. ^ "No. 27435". The London Gazette. 20 May 1902. p. 3326.
10. ^ Holmes, Richard (2004). Tommy : the British soldier on the Western Front, 1914-1918. London : HarperCollins. p. 627\. ISBN 978-0-00-713751-0.
11. ^ Hooper, Colette (2014). Railways of the Great War with Michael Portillo. Transworld Publishers Ltd. ISBN 9780593074121.
12. ^ "Lieutenant Colonel Charles William Reginald Duncombe | War Casualty Details 264937". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 28 October 2023.

## References[edit]

* Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,[page needed]
* Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages [self-published source][better source needed]
* Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
* Lundy, Darryl. "FAQ". The Peerage.[unreliable source]

## External links[edit]

* Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Viscount Helmsley

Parliament of the United Kingdom

Preceded by

Sir John Lawson

|  Member of Parliament for Thirsk and Malton
1906–1915 | Succeeded by

Edmund Russborough Turton

Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by

William Ernest Duncombe

|  Earl of Feversham
1915–1916  | Succeeded by

Charles Duncombe

Authority control databases: People |

* Commonwealth War Graves Commission

|