Charles FitzRoy, 10th Duke of Grafton


Charles Alfred Euston FitzRoy, 10th Duke of Grafton, known as Charles FitzRoy until 1936, was a British aristocrat, soldier, politician, and farmer.

Background and education

Grafton was born at Euston Hall near Thetford, the eldest son of the Reverend Lord Charles Edward FitzRoy and of his wife, Hon. Ismay FitzRoy, daughter of Charles FitzRoy, 3rd Baron Southampton. His paternal grandparents were Augustus FitzRoy, 7th Duke of Grafton, and Anna Balfour. Another ancestor, Anne Warren, was the daughter of Admiral Sir Peter Warren and a descendant of the Schuyler family, the Van Cortlandt family, and the Delancey family, all from British North America.
He was educated at Wellington and then at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

Military career

In 1911, he joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers, who were stationed at Quetta in what is now Pakistan. In 1914, soon after the outbreak of the Great War, he went to France, and in 1917, he was appointed as aide-de-camp and comptroller to Lord Buxton, Governor General of South Africa. He remained in South Africa until 1920. In 1921, he retired from the army.

Farming

After retirement from the Army, he became a farmer at Coney Weston in Suffolk. From 1927 to 1936, he was land agent for his first wife's maternal uncle, Owen Hugh Smith, at Langham in Rutland. In 1936, he succeeded his second cousin John FitzRoy as Duke of Grafton and inherited the family estates based at Euston Hall.

Marriage and issue

FitzRoy married, firstly, Lady Doreen Maria Josepha Sydney Buxton, daughter of his commanding officer Sydney Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton, and his wife, Mildred Anne Smith, on 24 January 1918. They had three children:
Lady Doreen died of septicaemia weeks after the birth of their third child. A year later, he married, secondly, Lucy Eleanor Barnes, daughter of Sir George Stapylton Barnes and of his wife, Sybil de Gournay Buxton. The ceremony took place on 6 October 1924. Lucy was the first cousin of Charles' first wife. They had two children:
The year after his second wife's death, he married, thirdly, Rita Emily Carr-Ellison, daughter of John Ralph Carr-Ellison and of his wife, Alice Ursula Lang. The ceremony took place on 18 July 1944.
He died at Bury St Edmunds on 11 November 1970.