Lot Essay
The arms are those of Adolphus Frederick, 1st Duke of Cambridge (1771-1850), seventh son of George III. From 1816-1837 he served as Viceroy of Hanover. In 1818 he married Augusta, daughter of the Landgrave Hesse Cassel, the unexpected death of Princess Charlotte having made it imperative that the Royal duke's should provide for the succession. The Royal Princes "displayed a dutiful diligence in dismissing their respective mistresses, as a preliminary to the holy estate of matrimony" [Sir Herbert Maxell]. He died in 1850 at the age of 77 and was suceeded by his son, George, who enjoyed an eventful career as an army officer, serving in the Crimean War.
The 2nd Duke was described as "a bluff, fresh, hale, country gentlemen, with something of the vigorous frankness of the English skipper and something, too, of the Prussian martinet; industrious, punctual, rising early, seeking rest late, fond of life and its pleasures, of good dinners, good cigars, pleasant women, of the opera, of the play" [Society in London, 1885, p. 19]. It has been said that his tenure of office as Commander in Chief of the Army for 39 years was noticeable to his steady opposition to every kind of Army reform [Complete Peerage]. He married, in a contravention of the Royal Marriage Act of 1772, in 1847, Sarah, daughter of Robert Fairbrother, a theatrical printer. She was a popular actress in burlesques and bore him three sons who adopted the surname FitzGeorge. The 2nd Duke died in 1904 when the dukedom became extinct. His silver was sold by Christie's later that year in what was to be the last in the series of great sales of silver belonging to the Royal dukes, which had started with James Christie the younger's sale of the Duke of York's collection in 1827.
The 2nd Duke was described as "a bluff, fresh, hale, country gentlemen, with something of the vigorous frankness of the English skipper and something, too, of the Prussian martinet; industrious, punctual, rising early, seeking rest late, fond of life and its pleasures, of good dinners, good cigars, pleasant women, of the opera, of the play" [Society in London, 1885, p. 19]. It has been said that his tenure of office as Commander in Chief of the Army for 39 years was noticeable to his steady opposition to every kind of Army reform [Complete Peerage]. He married, in a contravention of the Royal Marriage Act of 1772, in 1847, Sarah, daughter of Robert Fairbrother, a theatrical printer. She was a popular actress in burlesques and bore him three sons who adopted the surname FitzGeorge. The 2nd Duke died in 1904 when the dukedom became extinct. His silver was sold by Christie's later that year in what was to be the last in the series of great sales of silver belonging to the Royal dukes, which had started with James Christie the younger's sale of the Duke of York's collection in 1827.