Charles Culling Smith

Charles Culling Smith (c. 1775 – 26 May 1853) was a British politician and courtier, most noted as the brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington.^[1][2]

Early life

Culling Smith was born in c. 1775. He was the son of Charles Smith, Governor of Madras, and nephew of Sir Culling Smith, 1st Baronet.^[3] His grandfather, Thomas Smith, Esq. of Hadley, Middlesex, was a prosperous London merchant.^[2]

Career

Culling Smith's brother-in-law, the Marquess Wellesley, became Foreign Secretary in the Tory government of Spencer Perceval in 1809, and Culling Smith was appointed Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on 13 December that year,^[4] serving until 27 February 1812.^[5] On 1 June 1812 he was one of the Esquires to his brother-in-law the Earl of Wellington at the latter's installation (by proxy) as a Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath.^[6]

Culling Smith served as an equerry to the Duke of York, and was present in that capacity at the funeral of Queen Charlotte on 8 December 1818,^[7] while his son was there as Page of Honour.^[8] On 14 August 1820 Culling Smith and his wife, son, daughter and step-daughters were among the mourners at the funeral of the Duchess of York.^[9] His last service as equerry was at the Duke of York's funeral on 20 January 1827.^[10]

On 13 March 1827 Culling Smith was made one of the Commissioners of the Board of Customs,^[11] but he continued to attend state occasions including the funeral of the Duke of Gloucester on 11 December 1834^[12] and the Duke of Wellington on 18 November 1852.^[13][14]

Personal life

'Love laughs at locksmiths-or-culling the duke! A farce lately performed in Upper Brook Street.' Print satirising Lord Worcester's marriage to Culling Smith's daughter, by Isaac Robert Cruikshank, 1822.

On 2 August 1799 he married Lady Anne FitzRoy (1768^[15]–1844), widow of the Hon. Henry FitzRoy (fourth son of Charles FitzRoy, 1st Baron Southampton) and only daughter of Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington.^[16] By this marriage he gained two stepdaughters:

• Anne Caroline FitzRoy (died 1835)
• Georgiana Frederica FitzRoy (1792–1821), who married Henry Somerset, Marquess of Worcester, in 1814.^[17]

His marriage to Lady Anne produced a further two children, a daughter and a son:

• Emily Frances Culling Smith (1800–1889), who married her half-sister's widower Lord Worcester (who succeeded his father as 7th Duke of Beaufort in 1835) in 1822. They had one son and six daughters.^[17]
• Frederick William Culling Smith (c. 1802–1828), a godson of the Duke of York.^[18] He was made a Page of Honour on 13 March 1812^[19] and commissioned as a cornet in the 2nd Dragoon Guards on 22 April 1819.^[20] He transferred into the Coldstream Guards as an ensign on 18 January 1820^[18] and reached the rank of lieutenant in that regiment before promotion to the Royal Horse Guards as a captain on 2 January 1823.^[21] On 1 August 1826 he was promoted to the rank of major of infantry on the unattached list,^[22] and joined the 80th Regiment of Foot on 17 January 1828.^[23] He died at Malta later that year, aged twenty-six.^[18]

Culling Smith and Lady Anne lived in a grace-and-favour residence at Apartment 8, Hampton Court Palace.^[24]