Lord Lucan was a ruthless landlord during the Great Famine in Ireland, evicting thousands of his Irish tenants and renting his land to wealthy ranchers. He also came up with a solution that allowed Jews to sit in Parliament.
Life and military career
George, Lord Bingham, at age 14, painted by his sister Elizabeth Harcourt
Lord Bingham became a lieutenant in the 8th Regiment of Foot on 20 January 1820, a captain in the 74th Regiment of Foot on 16 May 1822 and was promoted to major, unattached, on 23 June 1825.[5] He transferred to the 17th Lancers on 1 December 1825 and became commanding officer of the regiment with the rank of lieutenant colonel on 9 November 1826; he lavished such expense on his officers' uniforms and horses that the officers became known as "Bingham's Dandies".[5] He was also elected as MP for County Mayo in 1826[6] and held that seat until 1830.[5] During the Russo-Turkish War, which began in 1828, he acted observer with the Imperial Russian Army.[5]
'The Exterminator'
Lord Bingham succeeded his father as 3rd Earl of Lucan in the Peerage of Ireland on 30 June 1839 and, having become an Irish Representative Peer in June 1840[7] and having been promoted to colonel on 23 November 1841, he became Lord Lieutenant of Mayo in 1845.[3] During the Great Famine in the late 1840s, he was ruthless and introduced mass evictions from villages such as Ballinrobe. Famously stating that he "would not breed paupers to pay priests," he demolished over 300 homes and evicted 2,000 people in Ballinrobe between 1846 and 1849. He even insisted on closing the workhouse in Castlebar at the height of the Famine. For this, Lord Bingham earned the hatred of many Irishmen and became known as "The Exterminator".[8] He was promoted to major general on 11 November 1851.[9]
At the outbreak of the Crimean War, Lord Lucan applied for a post and was made commander of the Cavalry Division. His brother-in-law, the 7th Earl of Cardigan, was one of his subordinates, commanding the Light Brigade – an unfortunate choice as the two men heartily detested each other.[3] Promoted to brevet lieutenant general on 18 August 1854,[10] he was present at the Battle of Alma in September 1854 but, on the orders of the army commander, Lord Raglan, he held his division in reserve. This incident earned Lucan the undeserved, but persistent, nickname of "Lord Look-on".[11][12] At the Battle of Balaclava in October 1854, Lucan received an order from Raglan and in turn ordered Cardigan to lead the Charge of the Light Brigade, resulting in heavy British casualties without significant gains.[13] As Lucan brought the Heavy Brigade forward in support, he was lightly wounded in the leg.[14] Raglan blamed Lucan for the loss ("You have lost the light brigade"), and censured him in despatches.[15] Although Lucan complained against this censure, as the relationship between the army commander and the cavalry commander had clearly broken down, he was recalled to England, where he returned at the beginning of March 1855.[12]
A significant contribution was made by Lucan to Parliament when he produced a solution to the problem of admitting Jews to Parliament. Prior to this, distinguished Jews had declined to take the oath "on the true faith of a Christian" and having not been sworn in as required by statute, were refused voting rights although having been elected an MP. Lucan proposed, by way of a compromise, that each House could decide and modify its own oath. The House of Lords, who had long opposed the admission of Jews, agreed to this. A prominent Jew, Lionel Nathan Rothschild, was thus allowed to enter the House of Commons and was sworn in on 26 July 1858.[18]
In 1829, Bingham married Lady Anne Brudenell, seventh daughter of Robert Brudenell, 6th Earl of Cardigan; they had six children, two daughters being still born or dying soon after birth:[3]
United Kingdom
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