The first Duke of Schomberg had five sons:—
| 1. Frederick, a refugee in Germany, born in 1637 or 1638, “a resolute and understanding gentleman,” says D’Ablancourt. He survived all his brothers (according to Haag). [He did not die in December 1700 as had been erroneously reported to Luttrell.] He visited England in 1668 at the head of the British Auxiliaries returned from Portugal, and duly reported his and their arrival to his Britannic Majesty. | |||
| 2. Mainhardt (see a separate biography). | |||
| 3. Otho | who were killed in the French service, as has been already recorded. | ||
| 4. Henry | |||
| 5. Charles (see a separate biography). | |||
In the confusion of those times, no monument to the first Duke was erected. His descendants justly thought that the nation should erect it, and therefore silently bore Dean Swift’s upbraidings for a neglect which did not seem to be theirs. The Dean at last took the duty and privilege upon himself and upon the Chapter of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, who provided funds for a monument, the Dean contributing the inscription:—
“Hic infra situm est corpus Frederici, Ducis de Schomberg, ad Bubindam occisi, a.d. 1690. Decanus et Capitulum maximopere, etiam atque etiam, petierunt ut hreredes Ducis monumentum in memoriam parentis erigendum curarent. Sed postquam per epistolas, per amicos, diu ac saepe orando, nil profecere, nunc demum lapidem statuerunt; — saltern ut scias, hospes, ubinam terrarum Schombergenses cineres delitescunt. Plus potuit fama virtutis apud alienos, quam sanguinis proximitas apud suos. a.d. 1731.”[1]
This epitaph is milder than the first draft of it which is printed in the Gentleman’s Magazine for April 1731, and which declares that what was suggested to the Duke’s heirs was “monumentum quantumvis exile,” — that the Dean and Chapter “hunc lapidem indignabundi posuerunt,” — and that the visitor now knows " quantillâ in cellulâ tanti Ductoris cineres, in opprobrium haeredum, delitescunt.”
II. Charles, Second Duke of Schomberg.
“Who hath also been slaine in our service.” — King William III.
Count Charles de Schomberg, youngest son of the Marshal, was born about 1645. Having entered the army, he is found serving with his father in Portugal. After the victory of Montesclaros, the Confederates made an irruption into Spain, and the Fort de la Garda was besieged. On the sixth day of the siege the covered way was attacked, when the Marquis of Ruvigny and Count Charles de Schomberg were the first that entered, being accompanied by a Portuguese sergeant who was immediately killed. Miners were then sent to work, and the town surrendered on the 22d November 1665.
In 1663 a regiment, nominally in Portuguese pay, had been formed of “Germans of the old Imperial forces,” who as Spanish auxiliaries had become Schomberg’s prisoners at Evora. It was called Cleran’s Regiment, after a French Colonel to whom Schomberg gave it. At the peace in 1668 Charles de Schomberg was Lieutenant-Colonel of Cleran’s, and, like the rest of the officers and men, was incorporated with the regiment of Alsace in the army of France. During the next sixteen years he must have earned considerable advancement in the service; and at the date of his arriving in Prussia as a refugee, his eminent qualities and reputation may be inferred from the facts that the Elector made him a major-general in his army, and gave him the governorship of Magdeburg.
Count Charles accompanied the Prince of Orange in his descent upon England. He was the first of his father’s descendants to become a British subject. Accordingly, when the Marshal was enrolled in the peerage of England in acknowledgment of the “hazardous attempt to redeem this kingdom from Popery and arbitrary power,” we find Charles, his third surviving son, declared to be his heir.
Having been enrolled in the English army, probably as a Major-General, Charles was sent to Ireland to assist in the relief of Londonderry. Rosen in his despatch to King James, dated 5th July 1689, speaks of Kirke as “waiting the arrival of three regiments of cavalry and two of infantry which are to join him under the command of Count Charles Schomberg.” He threw himself into the city, and by his genius and vigour gave great assistance to the citizens. When no longer required there, he joined his father at Dundalk. He was a witness to a proof of the assertion of the General “that the Irish regiments will always throw themselves upon the first
- ↑ Graham’s History (1689 to 1691), p. 368.
