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CHARLES PHILIP YORKE

FOURTH EARL OF HARDWICKE

VICE-ADMIRAL R.N.

A MEMOIR

BY HIS DAUGHTER

THE LADY BIDDULPH OF LEDBURY

WITH PORTRAITS

DEDICATED

TO HIS GRANDCHILDREN

PREFACE

It is with great diffidence that I lay this memoir before the public;it is my first experience in such work, but my reasons for so doingappear to me unanswerable. It was to my care and judgment that myfather, by his will, committed his letters and journals, and my heartconfirms the judgment of my mind, that his active and interesting life,so varied in the many different positions he was called upon to fill,and the considerable part he played in the affairs of his time, deservea fuller record than the accounts to be found in biographical works ofreference.

It has been a labour of love to me to supply these omissions in thefollowing pages, and to present in outline the life of a capable,energetic Englishman, for whom I can at least claim that he was a loyaland devoted servant of his Sovereign and his country.

In fulfilling what I hold to be a filial obligation I have made noattempt to give literary form to a work which, so far as possible, isbased upon my father's own words. Primarily it is addressed to hisgrandchildren and great-grandchildren, to whom, I trust, it may serveas an inspiration; but I have also some hope that a story which touchesthe national life at so many points may prove of interest to thegeneral public. I am greatly indebted to my son, Mr. Adeane, and to myson-in-law, Mr. Bernard Mallet, for the help and encouragement theyhave given me; and I have also to acknowledge the assistance of Mr. W.B. Boulton in editing and preparing these papers for publication.

ELIZABETH PHILIPPA BIDDULPH.

LEDBURY: January 1910.

CONTENTS

I. THE YORKE FAMILY

II. ALGIERS. 1815-1816

III. THE NORTH AMERICAN STATION. 1817-1822

IV. GREEK PIRACY. 1823-1826

V. A HOLIDAY IN NORTHERN REGIONS. 1828

VI. GREEK INDEPENDENCE. 1829-1831

VII. COURT DUTIES AND POLITICS. 1831-1847

VIII. GENOA. 1849

IX. POLITICS AND LAST YEARS. 1850-1873

INDEX

LIST OF PORTRAITS

CHARLES PHILIP, FOURTH EARL OF HARDWICKE From a painting by E. U. Eddis

THE HONBLE. CHARLES YORKE SOLICITOR-GENERAL From a painting by Allan
Ramsay (?)

SIR JOSEPH SYDNEY YORKE As A MIDSHIPMAN, R.N. From a painting by George
Romney

SIR JOSEPH SYDNEY YORKE As A LIEUTENANT, R.N. from a painting by George
Romney

CHARLES PHILIP, FOURTH EARL OF HARDWICKE From a chalk drawing by E. U.
Eddis

SUSAN, COUNTESS OF HARDWICKE From a chalk drawing by E. U. Eddis

CHARLES PHILIP YORKE

FOURTH EARL OF HARDWICKE

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