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CUMBERLAND, WILLIAM AUGUSTUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 624 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CUMBERLAND, See also:WILLIAM See also:AUGUSTUS , DuxE of (1721-1765), son of See also:King See also:George II. and See also:Queen See also:Caroline, was See also:born on the 15th of See also:April 1721, and when five years of See also:age was created See also:duke of Cumberland. His See also:education was well attended to, and his courage and capacity in outdoor exercises were notable from his See also:early years. He was intended by the king and queen for the See also:office of See also:lord -high See also:admiral, and in 1740 he sailed as a volunteer in the See also:fleet under the command of See also:Sir See also:John See also:Norris; but he quickly became dissatisfied with the See also:navy, and early in 1742 he began a military career. In See also:December 1742 he was. made a See also:major-See also:general, and in the following See also:year he first saw active service in See also:Germany. George II. and the " See also:martial boy " shared in the See also:glory of See also:Dettingen (See also:June 27), and Cumberland, who was wounded in the See also:action, displayed an See also:energy and valour; the See also:report of which in See also:England founded his military popularity After the See also:battle he was made See also:lieutenant-general. In 1745, having been made See also:captain-general of the See also:British See also:land forces at See also:home and in the See also:field, the duke was again in See also:Flanders as See also:commander-inchief of the allied British, Hanoverian, See also:Austrian and Dutch troops. Advancing to the See also:relief of Tournay, which was besieged. by See also:Marshal See also:Saxe, he engaged that See also:great general in the battle of See also:Fontenoy (q v.) on the 1 rth of May. It cannot now be doubted that, had the duke been supported by the See also:allies in his marvellously courageous attack on the See also:superior positions of the See also:French See also:army, Fontenoy would not have been recorded as a defeat to the British arms. He himself. was in the midst of the heroic See also:column which penetrated the French centre, and his conduct of the inevitable See also:retreat was unusually cool and skilful. Notwithstanding the severity of his discipline, the See also:young duke had the See also:power to inspire his men with a strong See also:attachment to his See also:person and a very lively esprit de See also:corps. As a general his courage and See also:resolution were not sufficiently tempered with. sagacity and tact; but he displayed an energy and power in military affairs which pointed him out to the British See also:people as the. one commander upon whom they could rely to put a decisive stop to the successful career of See also:Prince See also:Charles See also:Edward in the See also:rebellion, of 1745–1746. John (See also:Earl) See also:Ligonier wrote of him at this See also:time: " Ou je suis fort trompe ou it se forme la un See also:grand capitaine," He was recalled from Flanders, and immediately proceeded with his preparations for quelling the insurrection.

He joined the midland army under Sir John Ligonier, and was at once in pursuit of his See also:

swift-footed foe. But the retreat of Charles Edward from See also:Derby disconcerted his plans; and it was not till they had reached See also:Penrith, and the advanced portion of his army had been repulsed on See also:Clifton See also:Moor, that he became aware how hopeless an See also:attempt to overtake the retreating Highlanders would then be. See also:Carlisle having been retaken, he retired to See also:London, till the See also:news of the defeat of See also:Hawley at See also:Falkirk roused again the fears of the See also:English people, and centred the hopes of See also:Britain on the royal duke. He was appointed commander of the forces in See also:Scotland. Having arrived in See also:Edinburgh on the 3oth of See also:January 1746, he at once proceeded in See also:search of the young Pretender. He diverged, however, to See also:Aberdeen, where he employed his time in training the well-equipped forces now under his command for the See also:peculiar nature of the warfare in which they were about to engage. What the old and experienced generals of his time had failed to accomplish or even to understand, the young duke of Cumberland, as yet only twenty-four years of age, effected with simplicity and ease. He prepared to dispose his army so as to withstand with firmness that onslaught on which all Highland successes depended; and he reorganized the forces and restored their discipline and self-confidence in a few See also:weeks. On the 8th of April 1946 he set out from Aberdeen towards See also:Inverness, and on the 15th he fought the decisive battle of See also:Culloden, in which, and in the pursuit which followed, the forces of the Pretender were completely destroyed. He had become convinced that the sternest See also:measures were needed to break down the Jacobitism of the Highlanders. He told his troops to take See also:notice that the enemy's orders were to give no See also:quarter to the " troops of the elector," and they took the hint. No trace of such orders remains (see See also:MURRAY, LORD GEORGE), and it is probable that Cumberland had merely received word of See also:wild talk in the enemy's See also:camp, which he credited the more easily as he thought that those who were capable of rebellion were cap-able of any See also:crime.

On See also:

account of the merciless severity with which the fugitives were treated, Cumberland received the See also:nickname of the " See also:Butcher." That the implied taunt was unjust need not be laboured. It was used for See also:political purposes in England, and his own See also:brother, the prince of See also:Wales, encouraged, it appears, the virulent attacks which were made upon the duke. In any See also:case there is a marked similarity between Cumberland's conduct in Scotland and that of See also:Cromwell in See also:Ireland. Both dared to do acts which they knew would be See also:cast against them for the See also:rest of their lives, and terrorized an obstinate and unyielding enemy into submission. How real was the danger of a protracted See also:guerrilla warfare in the See also:Highlands may be judged from the explicit declarations of Jacobite leaders that they intended to continue the struggle. As it was, the See also:war came to an end almost at once. Here, as always, Cumberland preserved the strictest discipline in his camp. He was inflexible in the See also:execution of what he deemed to be his See also:duty, without favour to any See also:man. At the same time he exercised his See also:influence in favour of clemency in See also:special cases that were brought to his notice. Some years later See also:James See also:Wolfe spoke of the duke as " for ever doing See also:noble and generous actions." The relief occasioned to Britain by the duke's victorious efforts was acknowledged by his being voted an income of £40,000 per annum in addition to his See also:revenue as a prince of the royal See also:house. The duke took no See also:part in the Flanders See also:campaign of 1746, but in 1747 he again opposed the still victorious Marshal Saxe; and received a heavy defeat at the battle of Lauffeld, or Val, near Maestricht (2nd of See also:July 1747). During the ten years of See also:peace Cumberland occupied himself chiefly with his duties as captain-general, and the result of his See also:work was clearly shown in the conduct of the army in the Seven Years' War.

His unpopularity, which had steadily increased since Culloden, interfered greatly with his success in politics, and when the See also:

death of the prince of Wales brought a See also:minor next in See also:succession to the See also:throne the duke was not able to secure for himself the contingentregency, which was vested in the princess-See also:dowager of Wales. In 1757, the Seven Years' War having broken out, Cumberland was placed at the See also:head of a See also:motley army of allies to defend See also:Hanover. At Hastenbeck, near See also:Hameln, on the 26th of July 1757, he was defeated by the superior forces of D'See also:Estrees (see SEVEN YEARS' WAR). In See also:September of the same year his defeat had almost become disgrace. Driven from point to point, and at last hemmed in by the French under See also:Richelieu, he capitulated at Klosterzeven on the 8th of the See also:month, agreeing to disband his army and to evacuate Hanover. His disgrace was completed on his return to England by the king's refusal to be See also:bound by the terms of the duke's agreement. In chagrin and disappointment he retired into private See also:life, after having formally resigned the public offices he held. In his retirement he made no attempt to justify his conduct, applying in his own case the discipline he had enforced in others. For a few years he lived quietly at See also:Windsor, and subsequently in London, taking but little part in politics. He did much, however, to displace the See also:Bute See also:ministry and that of See also:Grenville, and endeavoured to restore See also:Pitt to office. Public See also:opinion had now set in his favour, and he became almost as popular as he had been in his youth. Shortly before his death the duke was requested to open negotiations with Pitt for a return to power.

This was, however, unsuccessful. On the 31st of See also:

October 1765 the duke died. A Life of the. duke of Cumberland by See also:Andrew See also:Henderson was published in 1766, and See also:anonymous (See also:Richard Rolt) See also:Historical See also:Memoirs appeared in 1767. See especially A. N. See also:Campbell Maclachlan, William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (1876).

End of Article: CUMBERLAND, WILLIAM AUGUSTUS

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