William Keppel, 7th Earl of Albemarle

Lieutenant-Colonel The Right Honourable The Earl of Albemarle KCMG PC MP ADC
Viscount Bury, by Carlo Pellegrini, 1875.
Under-Secretary of State for War
In office 4 March 1878 – 21 April 1880
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Earl of Beaconsfield
Preceded by	The Earl Cadogan
Succeeded by	The Earl of Morley
In office 26 June 1885 – 28 June 1886
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by	The Earl of Morley
Succeeded by	The Lord Sandhurst
Personal details
Born	William Coutts Keppel 15 April 1832 London, England
Died	28 August 1894(1894-08-28) (aged 62)
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal Conservative
Spouse(s)	Sophia MacNab ​ (m. 1855)​
Children	Arnold Keppel, 8th Earl of Albemarle The Hon. Gertrude Keppel Lady Theodora Davidson Sir Derek Keppel Lady Hilda Keppel The Hon. George Keppel Lady Leopoldina Keppel Lady Susan Townley Lady Mary Tagart Florence Boyle, Countess of Cork
Parents	George Keppel, 6th Earl of Albemarle Susan Coutts Trotter

Lieutenant-colonel William Coutts Keppel, 7th Earl of Albemarle, KCMG, PC, MP, ADC (15 April 1832 - 28 August 1894), styled Viscount Bury between 1851 and 1891, was a British soldier and politician. He served in the British Army before entering Parliament in 1857. Initially a Liberal, he served as Treasurer of the Household between 1859 and 1866 in the Liberal administrations headed by Lord Palmerston and Lord Russell. He later switched to the Conservatives and held office as Under-Secretary of State for War under Lord Beaconsfield between 1878 and 1880 and under Lord Salisbury between 1885 and 1886. Lord Albemarle was 6th in direct line-of-descent from King Charles II; he was the father-in-law of Mrs George (Alice) Keppel (1898-1910) the mistress and confidante of King Edward VII; and he was the great great grandfather of the Duchess of Cornwall^[which?].

Early life[]

Keppel was born in London, England on 15 April 1832. He was the only son of General George Keppel, 6th Earl of Albemarle, by his wife Susan Coutts Trotter, daughter of Sir Coutts Trotter, 1st Baronet of Westville.

He was educated at Eton. He became known by the courtesy title Viscount Bury when his father succeeded in the earldom of Albemarle in 1851.^[1]

Career[]

Keppel became an ensign and lieutenant in the 43rd (Regiment of) Foot in 1843, a lieutenant in the Scots Guards in 1848 and an Aide-de-camp to Lord Frederick FitzClarence in India in 1853. From 1854 until 1856, he was Superintendent of Indian Affairs in Canada.^[1]

He raised the 21st Middlesex Rifles Volunteer Corps (Civil Service Rifles) in 1860.

Political career[]

Initially a Liberal, Lord Bury was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Norwich in 1857,^[2] and later represented Wick Burghs from 1860 to 1865^[3] and Berwick-upon-Tweed from 1868 to 1874.^[4] In 1859 he was sworn of the Privy Council^[5] and appointed Treasurer of the Household of Queen Victoria, under Lord Palmerston,^[6] a post he held until 1866, the last year under the premiership of Lord Russell.^[7] In 1870, he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George.^[8] On 6 September 1876 he was summoned to the House of Lords through a writ of acceleration in his father's barony of Ashford.^[9]

Two years later Lord Bury was appointed Under-Secretary of State for War in Lord Beaconsfield's Conservative administration which he remained until the government fell in 1880. In 1881, he became a Volunteer Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to the Queen. He was once again Under-Secretary of State for War from 1885 to 1886 under Lord Salisbury.

He wrote a history of the American colonization called Exodus of the Western Nations (1865), A Report on the Condition of the Indians of British North America, and was the principal author, with George Lacy Hillier, of the Cycling volume of the Badminton Library (1887). In 1891 he succeeded his father in the earldom.^[1]

Personal life[]

The Right Honourable Sophia Countess of Albemarle

Lord Albemarle married Sophia Mary MacNab of Dundurn Castle, a descendant of Loyalist Ephraim Jones and daughter of Colonel the Rt. Hon. Sir Allan Napier MacNab, Kt, 1st Baronet of Dundurn Castle, GCStJ, MP, PC, QC, ADC, a Joint Premier of the Province of Canada; at Dundurn Castle, Hamilton, Canada, on 15 November 1855. ^[10] Together, they had ten children:^[11]

• Lt-Col. Sir Arnold Allen Cecil Keppel, 8th Earl of Albemarle, CB, GCVO, MP, JP, ADC, TD, (1 June 1858– 12 April 1942), who married Lady Gertrude Lucia Egerton, only child of Wilbraham Egerton, 1st Earl Egerton of Tatton, MA (Oxon.) MP,
• Hon. Gertrude Mary Keppel (November 1859–7 April 1860), who died in infancy.
• Lady Theodora Keppel of Hampton Court Palace, DJStJ, Medaille de la Reconnaissance (11 January 1862 – 30 October 1945) who married Colonel William Leslie Davidson of Inchmarlo, CB, QM (4 clasps) JP (Kincardine) ADC, RHA, Gentleman Usher to HM King George V, ADC to the Viceroy of India; and latterly ADC to HM's Governor of Gibraltar; and had issue: Leopoldina Theodora Davidson of Inchmarlo, JP (Wiltshire) (1930) who married (7 October 1924) at the Brompton Oratory RC Church, Knightsbridge, London, Major Walter Basil Louis Bonn, of Oaklands, DSO, MC, MA (Oxon.) FRSA, FZSL, Welsh Guards, Freeman of the City of London; and had issue: 1. Jurat of the Royal Court (1985-1997) Lt. Michael Walter Bonn, Welsh Guards, Kt. SMO Malta, Deputy of St Peter's, President of the International Dendrologists Society (13 January 1927 – 11 November 1997) who married (6 June 1951) Elizabeth Mary Buxton of Horsey Hall. 2. Major Christopher Leslie Leo Bonn, GCHM, ADC, (18 September 1928 – 11 December 2008) Officer of the Welsh Guards, Adjutant of Eton College, Hon. ADC to HH Prince Ivan Obolensky; and who married (23 February 1963) Edwina Sylvia de Winton-Wills of Meggernie Castle, formerly the Viscountess Savernake, and de iure Countess of Cardigan (the former wife of Capt. the Rt. Hon. Sir Michael Sydney Cedric Brudenell-Bruce, afterwards the (8th) Marquess of Ailesbury (of the ducal house of Brudenell, formerly Dukes of Montagu) and 30th Hereditary Warden of Savernake Forest. Issue of Major Christopher Bonn: ITPC Commissioner Philip Bonn, Cav. OSSML, ADC, MA (Cantab.) FRSA, (9 February 1964-) Knight Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Emperor Menelik II; Envoy & ADC to HIH Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie, the President of the Crown Council of Ethiopia (2014-); Special Envoy of the International Emergency Management Organisation (IEMO) a UN IGO (2016-) former National Chairman and a Councillor (2002-2006) of the BRCS Queen Mother Memorial Fund; and Centenary Director and Adviser of the RNID (2009-2011) 2. Camilla Georgina Alexandra Bonn (1965-) 3. Melissa Marina Arabella Bonn (1968-1971) 4. Melanie Marina Rozel Bonn (1974-)
• Hilary Davidson of Inchmarlo, a Roman Catholic nun;
• Vera Marian Davidson of Inchmarlo, married (15 December 1914) Aylmer Probyn Maude, Solicitor
• Captain Donald Alastair Davidson of Inchmarlo, MC, RFC, 1902-1908 a Page of Honour to HM King Edward VII (6 October 1891 – 20 April 1917); Lieutenant-Colonel Colin Keppel Davidson of Inchmarlo, CIE, OBE, OStJ, ADC, Equerry to HRH The Duke of Windsor, 1936-1940; married 1939; Lady Mary Rachel Fitzalan-Howard, DCVO, Lady in Waiting to HRH Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, later HRH Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, CI, GCVO, GBE
• Lt. Col. the Hon. Sir Derek William George Keppel , KCB, GCVO, CIE, CMG, VD, ADC, Equerry in Waiting to HRH The Duke of York (1893-1901); Equerry to HRH The Prince of Wales (1901-1910): Deputy Master of the Household to HM King George V (1910-1912); and Extra Equerry to HM King George V (1912–1936); Extra Equerry to HM King Edward VIII in 1936; and Extra Equerry to HM King George VI (1937-1944).
• Lady Hilda Mary Keppel (1864–1955), who died unmarried, a nun.
• Lt Col. the Hon. George Keppel, MVO (14 October 1865 – 22 November 1947), who married Alice Edmonstone (the long-time (1898-1910) mistress and confidante of HM King Edward VII) Issue 1. Violet Keppel, Dame Commander OMRI, Legion d'honneur (6 June 1894 – 1 March 1970) married (16 June 1919) Major Denys Robert Trefusis, MC (30 March 1890 – 2 September 1929) 2. Sonia Rosemary Keppel, OBE, CStJ (24 May 1900 – 16 August 1986) married (16 November 1920) Hon. Roland Calvert Cubitt, 3rd Baron Ashcombe (26 January 1899 – 28 October 1962 ) having issue: 1. Hon Rosalind Maud Cubitt (11 August 1921 – 14 July 1994) she married (2 January 1946) Major Bruce Hope Middleton Shand, MC (22 January 1917 – 11 June 2006) having issue: Camilla Rosemary Shand (17 July 1947-) married Brigadier Andrew Henry Parker-Bowles, OBE, ADC (4 July 1973) divorced 19 January 1995; having issue: 1. Thomas Henry Parker-Bowles (18 December 1974-) Godson of HRH The Prince of Wales 2. Laura Rose Parker-Bowles (1 January 1978-) Married secondly at Windsor; HRH Charles Philip Arthur George Mountbatten-Windsor, Prince of Wales, KG, KT, GCB, OM, PC, QSO.
• Lady Leopoldina Olivia Keppel (1866–1948), who was the God daughter of HM King Leopold II of the Belgians; and who became a nun, known religiously, as Madame Keppel.
• Lady Susan Mary Keppel (1868–1953), who married HE Sir Walter Beaupre Townley, KCMG, His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador, in 1896.
• Lady Mary Stuart Keppel (1869–1906), who married Major-General Sir Harold Arthur Lewis Tagart, CB, KCMG, DSO, in 1900.
• Lady Florence Cecilia Keppel (1871–1963), who married William Boyle, 12th Earl of Cork in 1902, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus.

Lord Albemarle was received into the Roman Catholic Church on Easter Sunday, 13 April 1879. He died in August 1894, aged 62, of paralysis, and was buried at Quidenham in Norfolk. His eldest son Arnold succeeded in the earldom. The Countess of Albemarle died in April 1917, aged 84.^[1]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to William Keppel, 7th Earl of Albemarle.

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by William Keppel, 7th Earl of Albemarle
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