Prince Arthur,
Duke of Connaught
Prince Arthur William Patrick Albert was born 8:20 am 1st May 1850. The seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria. By all accounts he was her favourite son.
Prince Arthur was a career soldier and rose in rank, being promoted in 1902 to the rank of Field Marshal.
He entered the Royal Military College, Woolwich, in 1866 and started his career as a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers. He spent a year with his regiment in Montreal, and served on the Red River expedition of 1870 - early connections with the country he was to return to as Governor-General.After serving with the Rifle Brigade at Tell-el-Kebir in 1882, he served in India, Ireland, the Mediterranean and South Africa. At least for some of his time in India he was stationed in Meerut. Anil Bhattacharji has written to me from that town to say that the grand building that housed the Duke at that time is now a bank (details and a photo part way down this Meerut page)#595 It was while at Meerut that army officer Robert Baden-Powell was attached to the Duke's staff. Two decades later Baden-Powell would found the Boy Scouts and in 1913 the Duke was appointed President of the association.
It is reported that the Duke was bitterly disappointed not to succeed the Duke of Cambridge as Commander-in-Chief in 1895.
Named Duke of Connaught
in 1874 (or more precisely, the 1st Duke of Connaught and Strathearn), he
married Princess Louise, the shy daughter of Prince Frederick of Prussia,
in 1879. They had two daughters and one son.
In 1905 their elder daughter, Margaret, married into the Swedish Royal family and became Crown Princess Margaret, wife of King Gustav VI of Sweden.Their younger daughter, Princess Patricia, is well known to Canadians as Lady Patricia Ramsay, and gave her name to a famous Canadian army regiment, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. Lady Patricia lived locally and worshipped at St Anne's Church until her death in 1974. A memorial plaque to Lady Patricia was unveiled by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, in St Anne's Church, Bagshot, on 25 March 1990. [pictures]
Their son, also Prince Arthur of Connaught, died four years before his father and so never inherited the title, which passed to the Duke's grandson Alistair Arthur, 2nd Duke of Connaught. He was was Duke for only a very short while, dying in 1943 at the age of 29 without any successors. More about Prince Arthur.
A family tree is here.
The Duke's personal banner bearing his coat of arms which hung over his stall as a Knight of the Garter in St George's Chapel, Windsor, until his death. |
The Duke served as Governor General of Canada from 1911 to 1916, he performed many civic duties, he clearly had a great affinity for the country and was very popular.
Many Canadian places and institutions were named after him, including Prince Arthur's Landing, now Port Arthur; and The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own).
It is not just Canadian places that are named after him. At risk of a boring list of attributions, the following are among those that came to light in researching this page:
- several Indian Army units bear his title, including the 129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis, a unit from whose ranks came the first Indian citizen to be awarded the Victoria Cross.
- at least one British army unit: the 6th Hampshire Regiment (TA) (Duke of Connaught's Own) Battn (Portsmouth).
- street names, such as Connaught Place, Edinburgh. (Though some may also have been named after Connaught in Ireland)
- New Delhi's original shopping arcade
- a G.W.R. locomotive built in 1897 and which achieved a record average speed from Bristol to London in 1903.
- A Maltese band.
It is reported that the Duke was heavily involved in German affairs. This would not be too surprising as his father (Prince Albert of Coburg), his maternal grandmother and his wife were all German. One might speculate that the reason for an eminent Field Marshal being posted to Canada in 1911 may have been to distance him from the military aspects of a deteriorating German situation.
The Duke was, in 1926, Godfather at the Christening of Princess Elizabeth of York, now far better known as our present Queen. He was Her Majesty's great great uncle.
The Duke was a freemason. He became Grand Master in 1901 when his brother, who had held that post for the previous 27 years, acceded to the Throne as King Edward VII. The Duke served as Grand Master to his death in 1942.
He was Patron of many organisations, one local one being the Royal Albert Orphan School. More about this.
Yet to be added to this page:
- sailing
- Scouting (The picture to the right is the Duke as President of the Boy Scouts in the mid-1930's)
- his chére amie
- his house in Cap-Ferrat
The Duke of Connaught in Malta
It never ceases to amaze me that the Duke got to so many places around the world, not only visited them but had a sufficient impact that places and organisations were named after him - and live on today.
Michael has written to me from Malta telling me about the Duke of Connaught's Own band - another example of the Duke's memory living on. But Michael has not been able to find out much about the Duke's activities on Malta. Do you know?
A lady has written: "I have enjoyed the music of the Duke of Connaught's own band, Malta 2005. My grandfather was in The Connaught Rangers and served in Malta 1889-1895 so I am drawn to any connection like that. Maybe the National Army Museum, Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London could help Michael about the Duke's activities in Malta."
Bob has written "Attached to the Floriana Methodist Church in Malta was a building known as "The Connaught Home", a sort of hostel / meeting place where people who attended the church, and others who did not, used to get together. There is a picture of it at www.scienceandsociety.co.uk. This has a caption which implies that this was the home of the Duke, although I had always assumed that "home" meant that it had been a home for sailors, not that the Duke had lived there. The significance of "The Connaught" to my wife and me, and quite a few other couples we know, is that it is where we met (in 1961). Of other places with the name Connaught - in Sidmouth where we now live, is a Connaught Gardens, opened by the Duke in 1934. Before that we lived at Sunninghill, just up the road from Bagshot, so wherever we go, we seem to be close to a Connaught influence. But as you say - he certainly seems to have got around a bit, judging by the number of places in which his name crops up!" 7004.107
I have more about Bagshot Park
There is an encyclopdia entry about the Duke here.
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