The arms are those of Charles, 4th Duke of Richmond and Lennox, born in 1764. Croker remarks that this celebrated peer appears to have been born, just as he died, in a barn: "his mother Lady Louisa, was taken ill when on a fishing party, and there was only time to carry her to a neighboring farmyard, where the Duke was born" (The Croker Papers, vol. 1, p. 150). He entered the army in 1788 and achieved notoriety by his duel with the Duke of York on Wimbledon Common on May 26, 1789. The Duke of York, the second son of George III (see the previous lot), cooly received his fire and then fired into the air. A short time later, he was involved in another duel, this time with one Theophilus Swift, the author of a scurrilous pamphlet about him. Swift was hit but the wound proved not to be fatal. Despite this penchant for dueling, he appears to have been a popular soldier and later served as a MP for Chichester. In 1806 he succeeded to the dukedom and the year following was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, a post he held until 1813. This dish and cover form a part of the prodigious service of plate which he took with him to Dublin. Contemporary writers speak of the almost regal state he maintained there; indeed he spent so much as Viceroy that on his return to England he could not afford to live at Goodwood, the main family seat, and was forced to take up residence in Brussels. It was there, in a coach maker's depot in the Rue de la Blanchisserie, that his Duchess gave the famous ball the night before Waterloo.

He had married in 1789 Charlotte, daughter of Alexander, 4th Duke of Gordon. It was said that she loved pomp "even more than her husband did". In 1818 he was apponted Governor General of Canada and while his personality endeared him to the populace, his extreme views seemed likely to force a clash with the French-Canadian Party. His term of office, however, was cut short the following year, when he died suddenly, apparently as a result of a bite from his pet fox. Rumors current at the time suggested that the fox had been a gift from the Iroquois. He was buried in Quebec Cathedral on September 4, 1819.

A pair of soup tureent, covers and stands from the same service is in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, California (78.DG.130 1-2)

Caption:
Attributed to Simon Jacques Rochard, Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond & Lennox (1764-1819), miniature on ivory. National Portrait Gallery, London.