Charles FitzRoy, 1st Baron Southampton

British politician and soldier (1737–1797)

General Charles FitzRoy, 1st Baron Southampton (25 June 1737 – 21 March 1797) was a British Army officer who served in the Seven Years' War and a politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1759 to 1780. The second son of Lord Augustus FitzRoy, FitzRoy joined the 1st Foot Guards as an ensign in 1752 and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1758. In the following year he fought at the Battle of Minden as an aide de camp, where he was a part of the controversy surrounding Lord George Sackville's slow reaction to orders sent to him. FitzRoy was also present at the Battle of Vellinghausen in 1761. Having been quickly promoted through the ranks with the support of his powerful family, he was promoted to major general in 1772 and became a general in 1793. With the patronage of his elder brother Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, FitzRoy also had a long political career. He was a Groom of the Bedchamber from 1760 to 1762 and Whig Member of Parliament for Orford from 1759 to 1761, for Bury St Edmunds from 1761 to 1774 and for Thetford from 1774 to 1780. He was created Baron Southampton on 17 October 1780 for his support of Lord North's ministry and became Groom of the Stole to the Prince of Wales later in the year, a position he would hold for the rest of his life. He was succeeded by his eldest son, George, upon his death in 1797.

Charles FitzRoy was born on 25 June 1737, the second son of Lord Augustus FitzRoy and Elizabeth Cosby, who was the daughter of Colonel William Cosby. Descended from the aristocratic FitzRoy family, FitzRoy's older brother Augustus would go on to become the third Duke of Grafton. When FitzRoy's father died of a fever while serving at the Battle of Cartagena de Indias in 1741, the brothers were given over to the care of their grandfather, Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton. In 1752 FitzRoy joined the British Army as an ensign in the 1st Foot Guards. With the backing of his powerful family, FitzRoy was promoted quickly. He became lieutenant (regimental rank) and captain (army rank) in 1756, and captain and lieutenant colonel in 1758. In December 1780 FitzRoy was appointed Groom of the Stole to the Prince of Wales. In this role he was a special advisor and head of household to Wales. FitzRoy acted as an intermediary between the prince and his father George III during the disagreements surrounding the prince's secret marriage to Maria Fitzherbert. He was also heavily involved in the troubles, and attempted solutions, surrounding the prince's very large debts, much of which came from the construction of Carlton House. One contemporary said of FitzRoy that he "had only one fault, to be dislik'd by [the Prince of Wales] and a blind attachment to the king". Now serving in the House of Lords, FitzRoy created the motion for the loyal address to the king at the opening of parliament in 1781, and in 1782 returned to his military roots when Sackville, now known as Germain, was created Viscount Sackville. This was not a popular decision, and on 18 February Lord Carmarthen moved to protest against it, arguing that Germain's court martialling should disqualify him from becoming a peer. In the subsequent debate Germain argued that his court martial had been politically motivated, but FitzRoy intervened to disagree, saying that it had not been "animated by a factious spirit". Carmarthen made two attempts to stop Sackville being accepted into the Lords but failed in both. In the same year FitzRoy's role in the court of Queen Charlotte came to an end. Continuing on in the Lords after this, FitzRoy stayed neutral in the debates over the 1789 Regency Bill, speaking on it on 16 February of that year. He was promoted to general on 25 October 1793 and died at his home in Stanhope Street, London, on 21 March 1797. He was buried in St James's burial ground, Hampstead Road, on 30 March.