The exceptionally rare and important Chapel Stall Plate for a Knight Grand Cross of Royal Guelphic Order of the King of Great Britain and Hannover, the only known example to be sold, as issued to none other than “The Grand Old Duke of York" or more correctly, His Royal Highness Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and Albany and Earl of Ulster, K.G., G.C.B., G.C.H., who was the second son of George III, King of the United Kingdom and Hanover, and heir presumptive to his elder brother, King George IV between 1820 to 1827. He joined the British Army in March 1782 and was given command as colonel of the 2nd Horse Grenadier Guards (now 2nd Life Guards), being promoted to Major General later that same year, and to Lieutenant General in 1784, General in 1793 and Field Marshal in 1794. He held command for a notoriously ineffectual campaign during the War of the First Coalition, a continental war following the French Revolution. His second field command was with the army sent for the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland in August 1799. A number of disasters befell the allied forces, including shortage of supplies. In October 1799, the Duke signed the Convention of Alkmaar, by which the allied expedition withdrew after giving up its prisoners. Frederick's military setbacks of 1799 were inevitable given his lack of experience as a field commander, the poor state of the British army at the time, and the conflicting military objectives of the protagonists. After this ineffectual campaign, Frederick was mocked, perhaps unfairly, in the rhyme “The Grand Old Duke of York": Later, as Commander-in-Chief during the Napoloenic Wars, he oversaw the reorganisation of the British Army, establishing vital structural, administrative and recruiting reforms. In 1801 Frederick actively supported the foundation of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, which promoted the professional, merit-based training of future commissioned officers. He was also in charge of the preparations against Napoleon’s planned invasion of the United Kingdom in 1803. In the opinion of Sir John Fortescue, Frederick did "more for the army than any one man has done for it in the whole of its history”. Owing to a scandal he resigned as Commander-in-Chief in March 1809, only to be exonerated and reinstated in May 1811. Following the unexpected death of his niece, Princess Charlotte of Wales, in 1817, Frederick became second in line to the throne, with a serious chance of inheriting it. In 1820, he became heir presumptive with the death of his father, George III. His legacy, amongst the many, is recorded in the following: Fredericton, the capital of the Canadian Province of New Brunswick, was named after him. The city was originally named "Frederick's Town”. Also in Canada, Duke of York Bay was named in his. In Western Australia, York County and the towns of York and Albany were named after Prince Frederick. Albany was originally named "Frederick Town”. The towering Duke of York Column on Waterloo Place, just off The Mall, London was completed in 1834 as a memorial to him.
Chapel Stall Plate for a Knight Grand Cross of Royal Guelphic Order of the King of Great Britain and Hannover, G.C.H., with German language inscription: ‘Seine Königliche Hoheit Friedrich Herzog von York zum Gross Kreutz des Koniglichen Guelphen Ordens ernannt den 12. August 1815.’ which translates as: ‘His Royal Highness Frederick Duke of York appointed the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Guelph on 12 August 1815’. Bronze-gilt, with painted enamel coat of arms and motto of the Duke of York, measuring approximately 26 x 20.5 cm, the reverse marked with the stamp of the maker: ‘G. Harris No 31 Shoe Lane London’. All four corners drilled, top two being affixed by an old cord for display purpose.
Condition; some of the painted enamel details now rubbed, overall Very Fine.
Founded by His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, later King George IV, on 28th April 1815, the Royal Guelphic Order took its name from the family surname of the British sovereigns from George I onwards and was awarded by the crown of Hanover to both British and Hanoverian subjects for distinguished services to Hanover. Under Salic Law, a woman could not succeed to the Hanoverian throne, so on the death of King William IV in 1837 Hanover passed to Prince Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, and thereafter the Guelphic Order became a purely Hanoverian award.
The Chapel Stall Plate for the Royal Guelphic Order was intended for display in the Royal German Chapel at St. James's Palace. The Plate would be taken down on the death of the recipient. His Royal Highness Frederick Duke of York was one of the very first recipients of the Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order. The GCH was distributed widely among the princes of the many royal houses of Germany, though very seldom to non-Germanic royalty. The first such gifts of the Order were made in 1815 by the Prince Regent to his Brunswick cousins and other relatives by marriage.
Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, K.G., G.C.B., G.C.H., (Frederick Augustus; 16 August 1763 – 5 January 1827) was the second son of George III, King of the United Kingdom and Hanover, and his consort Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. A soldier by profession, from 1764 to 1803 he was Prince-Bishop of Osnabruck in the Holy Roman Empire. From the death of his father in 1820 until his own death in 1827, he was the heir presumptive to his elder brother, George IV, in both the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Kingdom of Hanover.
Frederick was thrust into the British Army at a very early age and was appointed to high command at the age of thirty, when he was given command of a notoriously ineffectual campaign during the War of the First Coalition, a continental war following the French Revolution. Later, as Commander-in-Chief during the Napoloenic Wars, he oversaw the reorganisation of the British Army, establishing vital structural, administrative and recruiting reforms for which he is credited with having done "more for the army than any one man has done for it in the whole of its history".
Prince Frederick Augustus belonged to the House of Hanover. He was born on 16th August 1763, at St. Jame’s Palace, London. His father was the reigning British monarch. He was christened on 14th September 1763 at St James's, by the Archbishop of Canterbury. On 27th February 1764, when Prince Frederick was six months old, he became Prince-Bishop of Osnabruck upon the death of Clemens August of Bavaria. The Peace of Westphalia stipulated that the city of Osnabrück would alternate between Catholic and Protestant rulers, with the Protestant bishops to be elected from the cadets of the House of Brunswick-Luneburg. The bishopric of Osnabrück came with a substantial income, which he retained until the city was incorporated into Hanover in 1803 during the German mediatisation. He was invested as Knight of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath on 30th December 1767 and as a Knight of the Order of the Garter on 19th June 1771.
George III decided that his second son would pursue an army career and had him gazetted colonel on 4th November 1780. From 1781 to 1787, Prince Frederick lived in Hanover, where he studied at the University of Gottingen. He was appointed colonel of the 2nd Horse Grenadier Guards (now 2nd Life Guards) on 26th March 1782 before being promoted to Major General on 20th November 1782. Promoted to Lieutenant General on 27th October 1784, he was appointed colonel of the Coldstream Guards on 28th October 1784.
He was created Duke of York and Albany and Earl of Ulster on 27th November 1784 and became a member of the Privy Council. On his return to Great Britain, the Duke took his seat in the House of Lords, where, on 15th December 1788 during the Regency crisis, he opposed William Pitt’s Regency Bill in a speech which was supposed to have been influenced by the Prince of Wales. On 26th May 1789 he took part in a duel with Colonel Charles Lennox, who had insulted him; Lennox missed, and Prince Frederick refused to return fire.
On 12th April 1793, Frederick was promoted to General. That year, he was sent to Flanders in command of the British contingent of Coburg’s army destined for the invasion of France. Frederick and his command fought in the Flanders campaign under extremely trying conditions. He won several notable engagements, such as the Siege of Valenciennes in July 1793, but was defeated at the Battle of Hondschoote in September 1793. In the 1794 campaign he gained a notable success at the Battle of Beaumont in April and another at the Battle of Willems in May but was defeated at the Battle of Tourcoing later that month. The British army was evacuated through Bremen in April 1795.
After his return to Britain, his father George III promoted him to the rank of Field Marshal on 18th February 1795. On 3rd April 1795, George appointed him effective Commander-in-Chief in succession to Lord Amherst although the title was not confirmed until three years later. He was also colonel of the 60th Regiment of Foot from 19th August 1797. On appointment as Commander-in-Chief he immediately declared, reflecting on the Flanders Campaign of 1793–94, "that no officer should ever be subject to the same disadvantages under which he had laboured".
His second field command was with the army sent for the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland in August 1799. On 7th September 1799, he was given the honorary title of Captain-General. Sir Ralph Abercromby and Admiral Sir Charles Mitchell, in charge of the vanguard, had succeeded in capturing some Dutch warships in Den Helder. However, following the Duke's arrival with the main body of the army, a number of disasters befell the allied forces, including shortage of supplies. On 17th October 1799, the Duke signed the Convention of Alkmaar, by which the allied expedition withdrew after giving up its prisoners. 1799 also saw Fort Frederick in South Africa named after him.
Frederick's military setbacks of 1799 were inevitable given his lack of experience as a field commander, the poor state of the British army at the time, and the conflicting military objectives of the protagonists. After this ineffectual campaign, Frederick was mocked, perhaps unfairly, in the rhyme “The Grand Old Duke of York":
The grand old Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men.
He marched them up to the top of the hill
And he marched them down again.
And when they were up, they were up.
And when they were down, they were down.
And when they were only halfway up,
They were neither up nor down.
Frederick's experience in the Dutch campaign made a strong impression on him. That campaign, and the Flanders campaign, had demonstrated the numerous weaknesses of the British army after years of neglect. Frederick as Commander-in-Chief of the British army carried through a massive programme of reform. He was the person most responsible for the reforms that created the force which served in the Peninsular War. He was also in charge of the preparations against Napoleon’s planned invasion of the United Kingdom in 1803. In the opinion of Sir John Fortescue, Frederick did "more for the army than any one man has done for it in the whole of its history”.
In 1801 Frederick actively supported the foundation of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, which promoted the professional, merit-based training of future commissioned officers.
In 1801 touched by the plight of children orphaned as a result of the Napoleonic wars, Frederick issued a Royal Warrant and laid the foundation stone in Chelsea to build the Royal Military Asylum (now known as the Duke of York’s Headquarters) for orphaned children. In 1892 the Royal Military Asylum was renamed the Duke of York’s Royal Military School. The school relocated to Dover, Kent in 1909.
On 14th September 1805 he was given the honorary title of Warden of Windsor Forest.
Frederick resigned as Commander-in-Chief on 25th March 1809, as the result of a scandal caused by the activities of his latest mistress, Mary Anne Clarke. Clarke was accused of illicitly selling army commissions under Frederick's aegis. A select committee of the House of Commons enquired into the matter. Parliament eventually acquitted Frederick of receiving bribes by 278 votes to 196. He nevertheless resigned because of the high tally against him. Two years later, it was revealed that Clarke had received payment for furniture from Frederick's disgraced chief accuser, Gwyllym Wardle, and the Prince Regent reappointed the exonerated Frederick as Commander-in-Chief on 29th May 1811. The Duke's relationship with Mary Anne Clarke is used by Mary Anne's descendant, Daphne du Maurier, in her historical novel Mary Anne.
He was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Military Order of the Bath on 2nd January 1815, and a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order on 12th August 1815. During the years of 1814 to 1815 he was also appointed to various other European orders, being a Knight of the Order of Saint Andrew and of the Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky from Imperial Russia; a Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle of Prussia; a Knight of the Order of the St-Esprit of France; Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III of Spain, and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Maria Theresa of Austria.
Frederick maintained a country residence at Oatlands near Weybridge, Surrey, but he was seldom there, preferring to immerse himself in his administrative work at Horse Guards (the British army's headquarters) and, after hours, in London's high life, with its gaming tables: Frederick was perpetually in debt because of his excessive gambling on cards and racehorses. Following the unexpected death of his niece, Princess Charlotte of Wales, in 1817, Frederick became second in line to the throne, with a serious chance of inheriting it. In 1820, he became heir presumptive with the death of his father, George III.
Frederick died at the home of the Duke of Rutland on Arlington Street, London, in 1827. After lying in state at the Chapel Royal in London. Frederick's remains were interred in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, following his funeral there.
His legacy is in the following: Fredericton, the capital of the Canadian Province of New Brunswick, was named after Prince Frederick. The city was originally named "Frederick's Town”. Also in Canada, Duke of York Bay was named in his honour, since it was discovered on his birthday, 16th August. In Western Australia, York County and the towns of York and Albany were named after Prince Frederick. Albany was originally named "Frederick Town”. The towering Duke of York Column on Waterloo Place, just off The Mall, London was completed in 1834 as a memorial to Prince Frederick. The 72nd Regiment of Foot was given the title Duke of Albany's Own Highlanders in 1823 and, in 1881, became 1st Battalion Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Albany’s). The first British fortification in southern Africa, Fort Frederick, Port Elizabeth, a city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, was built in 1799 to prevent French assistance for rebellious Boers.