George Keppel, 6th Earl of Albemarle

{{Short description|British soldier, Liberal politician and writer}}

{{Infobox military person

|honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable

|name = The Earl of Albemarle

|honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|DL|FGS|FSA|size=100%}}

|image = George Keppel, Vanity Fair, 1883-07-14.jpg

|image_upright =

|alt = Keppel caricatured in Vanity Fair, 1883

|caption =

|birth_name =

|other_name =

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|birth_date = 13 June 1799

|birth_place = Marylebone, London

|death_date = {{death date and age|1891|02|21|1799|06|13|df=y}}

|death_place = Portman Square, London

|death_cause =

|placeofburial = Quidenham, Norfolk

| father = William Keppel, 4th Earl of Albemarle

|allegiance = United Kingdom

|branch = British Army

|serviceyears = 1815–1891

|rank = General

|unit =

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|battles = {{Tree list}}

|awards =

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|alma_mater = Westminster School

|spouse = Susan Trotter

|children = 5

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}}

General George Thomas Keppel, 6th Earl of Albemarle, {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|DL|FGS|FSA}} (13 June 1799{{snd}}21 February 1891),{{cite web | url = http://www.leighrayment.com/peers/peersA1.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080608023203/http://www.leighrayment.com/peers/peersA1.htm | archive-date = 8 June 2008 | title = Leigh Rayment - Peerage | url-status = usurped | accessdate =15 July 2009 }} styled The Honourable from birth until 1851, was a British soldier, Liberal politician and writer.{{cite web|url=http://www.19thcenturyphotos.com/Earl-of-Albemarle-124708.htm|website=19thcenturyphotos.com|title=Earl of Albemarle}}

Background and education

Born in Marylebone, he was the third and second surviving son of William Keppel, 4th Earl of Albemarle, and his first wife Elizabeth, fourth daughter of Edward Southwell, 20th Baron de Clifford.{{cite book | last = Dod | first = Robert P. | title = The Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland | year = 1860 | publisher = Whitaker and Co. | location = London | pages = 86–87 }} In 1851, he succeeded his older brother Augustus as earl. His lifelong friend was Sir Robert Adair. Keppel spent his childhood at his father's residence Elden[http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SFK/Elveden GENUKI: Elveden, Suffolk]. Retrieved 2016-11-05. Hall and was educated at Westminster School.{{cite book | last = Keppel | first = George Thomas | title = Fifty Years of My Life | publisher = Macmillan and Co. | location = London | year = 1876 }} In 1815, he entered the British Army as an ensign.

He owned 9,800 acres in Norfolk and Leitrim.[https://archive.org/details/greatlandownerso00bateuoft/page/6/mode/1up The great landowners of Great Britain and Ireland]

Military career

Keppel fought with the 14th Regiment of Foot in the Battle of Waterloo. He joined the second battalion in Corfu, and was transferred to the 22nd Foot, with which he served in Mauritius and at the Cape of Good Hope, returning home in 1819.{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Albemarle, Earls and Dukes of|display=Albemarle, Earls and Dukes of s.v. George Thomas Keppel|volume=1|page=493}} Keppel was transferred as lieutenant to the 20th Regiment of Foot in 1820 and went to India, where he was aide-de-camp to the Governor-General Marquess of Hastings until his resignation in 1823, when Keppel returned to England, travelling overland through Persia, Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

Keppel was aide-de-camp to the Marquess Wellesley, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, for two years, and was promoted captain in the 62nd Foot in 1825.{{cite book | last = Doyle | first = James Edmund | title = The Official Baronage of England | year = 1886 | publisher = Longmans, Green & Co. | volume = I | location = London | pages = 37 }} He then studied in the senior department of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and in 1827 obtained a half-pay unattached majority. In 1829 he visited the seat of the Russo-Turkish war and was with the British fleet in Turkish waters. He did not again serve on full pay but continued to rise in rank. By 1841 he became major and lieutenant-colonel, and was promoted to colonel in 1854 and to major-general in 1858. He was made lieutenant-general in 1866 and finally general in 1874.{{cite book | last = Debrett | first = John | title = Debrett's Illustrated Peerage and Titles of Courtesy | publisher = Dean & Son | location = London | year = 1876 | pages = 17–18 }}

Political career

Keppel represented East Norfolk in the Whig interest in the British House of Commons from 1832 until three years later.{{cite web | url = http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Ncommons2.htm | title = Leigh Rayment - British House of Commons, Norfolk East | accessdate = 15 July 2009 | url-status = usurped | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181006224549/http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Ncommons2.htm | archive-date = 6 October 2018 }} He stood unsuccessfully for King's Lynn in 1837 and for Lymington in 1841, however, sat for the latter eventually from 1847 to 1850, before succeeding his brother in the Earldom.{{cite web | url = http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Lcommons4.htm | title = Leigh Rayment - British House of Commons, Lymington | accessdate = 15 July 2009 | url-status = usurped | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111203104125/http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Lcommons4.htm | archive-date = 3 December 2011 }}

In 1820, he was appointed Equerry to Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex. In 1838, he was appointed High Sheriff of Leitrim.{{cite web | url = http://www.landedestates.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/estate-show.jsp?id=586 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110721125548/http://www.landedestates.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/estate-show.jsp?id=586 | url-status = dead | archive-date = 21 July 2011 | title = Connacht Landed Estates Project - Keppel | accessdate = 15 July 2009 }} He served as Groom-in-Waiting between the latter year and 1841 and was private secretary to the prime minister Lord John Russell between 1846 and the next year. He was a deputy lieutenant of Norfolk from 1859 and was Fellow of the Geological Society (FGS) as well as the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA).

Family and death

On 4 August 1831, he married Susan Trotter, daughter of Sir Coutts Trotter, 1st Baronet in Willesden.{{cite book | last = Sylvanus | first = Urban | title = The Gentleman's Magazine | location = London | publisher = J. B. Nichols and Son | year = 1831 | pages = 171 | volume = part II }} They had four daughters and one son. Keppel died, aged 91 in Portman Square in London and was buried in Quidenham.

He was succeeded in his titles by his only son William, a great-great-grandfather of Queen Camilla.