Description
Letter Signed ‘Hartford’, asking his correspondent (possibly Judge-Advocate Watkins, secretary to the 2nd Duke of Ormond) to put before the Duke of Ormond the case of Hertford’s eldest ensign, Roger Combes, who is to be promoted Lieutenant in the place of Lieutenant Tyrell, who has been killed. 1 page 9 x 7 inches, in good clean condition, four wormholes. Probably Flanders [docketed 25 April 1712]. Algernon Seymour, Earl of Hertford, seventh Duke of Somerset (1684-1750), was a He was a distinguished soldier, serving as a volunteer at Oudenarde in 1708, aide de camp to Marlborough at Malplaquet in 1709, and colonel of the fifteenth regiment of foot from 23 October of that year. He saw active service in this capacity during the campaigns of 1710, 1711, and 1712. He was governor of Minorca, September 1737–March 1742; governor of Guernsey, March 1742 until his death; and colonel of the Horse Guards regiment from 1740 until his death, with a brief interval in early 1742 when he lost the regiment on the fall of Walpole. Hertford was also president of the Society of Antiquaries from 1724 to 1749. Horace Walpole thought him ‘as good a man as lives’ (Walpole, Corr., 18.522). Ormond was in Flanders at this time, having been appointed colonel of the first troop of foot guards, andcommander-in-chief of the armed forces in England and Holland.