I think I remember my maternal grandfather visiting Barmeath when I was a child; but as he died when I was four I think the memory derives from a photograph of him with me. He was Chaplain to the Bishop of Bombay and it was in India he met and married my grandmother.
But I digress. His elder brother was Frederick Ponsonby Hill, named after his father, my great-grandfather, Colonel Frederick Jacob Ponsonby Hill. My six times great-grandfather was William Ponsonby, Ist Viscount Duncannon. This cove is the ancestor of Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby and the Hills were not going to let that be forgotten. He is a very distant cousin, worth remembering.
He was born in 1783. Not relevant but interesting: his sister was Lady Caroline Lamb. He joined the army, serving in the Peninsula War with distinction. “In Paris at the time of the abdication of Napoleon he rode through the night to bring the news to Wellington, who famously, at an inn after defeating the French at the Battle of Toulouse, snapped his fingers and turned on his heel “in a triumphal pastiche of a flamenco dance.” “ (Wikipedia) Now turn the page to the Battle of Waterloo. Wikipedia takes up the story again.
“Ponsonby was wounded in both arms, and knocked off his horse by another sabre cut. A French lancer saw him move where he lay and stabbed him in the back with his lance, exclaiming “Tu n’es pas mort, coquin” (You’re not dead, you rascal). A French skirmisher then robbed him but luckily for Ponsonby, a Major de Laussat of the French Imperial Guard Dragoons found him and treated him kindly, giving him some brandy and promising to send help should the French prove victorious. Later, another French skirmisher used Ponsonby as a shield as he talked with him and fired over his body. Toward the end of the battle, he was ridden over by Prussian cavalry. During the night after the battle, he was roughed up by a Prussian looking for plunder, and a mortally wounded soldier of the Royal Dragoons had crawled upon Ponsonby’s legs and lay dying. At last, Ponsonby was discovered by a soldier of the 40th Foot, who stood guard over him for hours until a cart became available to transport him back to Brussels. Despite the quixotic nursing ideas of his sister, the notorious Lady Caroline Lamb, and despite being further bled of 120 imperial fluid ounces (3.4 L) over two days, he managed to survive against the odds from his seven major wounds.“ (Wikipedia)
He died in 1837, aged fifty-three, and is buried in St Nicholas’ church at Hatherop in Gloucester. I hope to make a visit in due course in search of a funerary monument. Meanwhile he had served as Governor of Malta, 1826 to 1835, and a seventy foot column was erected to commemorate him in Valletta. Unfortunately it was struck by lightning in 1864 but the plinth has been preserved and my sister and I went to pay homage.
Major General, The Hon. Sir Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby, GCMG KCB KCH, is a family connection worth remembering.
Thank you Christopher for the lovely summary of our distant cousin, his life, his family, his good luck but not so for his monument.
A small and rare connection between the Bellew and Hastings family trees. Hastings Gardens is named after the Marquis of Hastings who started life as Francis Rawdon progressing through Lord Rawdon then Earl of Moira to the 1st Marquess of Hastings. He took his mother’s maiden name at the request of his grandfather, 9th Earl of Huntingdon. Hastings was a pretty distinguished and certainly well rewarded Tory and Unionist. I can feel your readers on the edge of their seats.
Quite a survivor. One of my family was left in the field after Waterloo and also came through it though not in such a traumatic way. The conditions were famously bad. His experiences seem almost worse than many had he was lucky to live in one piece.
There is an octagonal tower erected by his Father in Piltown,co Kilkenny to his memory.It was not finished and later on became a water tower. Now in the middle of a small roundabout
Love this take of derring -do. Baron Münchhausen has nothing on him . Stalwart!
One version of the history of that tower at Piltown is that it was started in 1810 after Ponsonby was reported killed in the Pensinsula War, only for him to re-appear. However Robert O’Byrne in a recent blog on his excellent website The Irish Aesthete (sub-heading ‘This is not an Oxymoron’ !) now thinks it ‘more likely’ that it was not started till after 1815.
Also a distant cousin of mine and Christopher’s I wonder if this monument was dedicated to his cousin Maj. Gen Sir William Ponsonby who was killed in a charge at Waterloo. He was one of Wellingtons Aid de Camp.
In addition to my previous comments about Major General Sir Willam Ponsonby killed at Waterloo he was also the Member for Fethard. The monument in Piltown may have been dedicated to him?