Prince William, Duke of Cumberland

Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, was born on 15 April 1721 and died on 31 October 1765. He was the third and youngest son of King George II of Great Britain and Ireland and his wife, Caroline of Ansbach. He held the title Duke of Cumberland from 1726. His main historical legacy is his suppression of the Jacobite Rising at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, which earned him popularity in some parts of Britain. His Tory opponents gave him the nickname 'Butcher' Cumberland.

During much of the War of the Austrian Succession, Cumberland commanded the main allied field army in Flanders, with help from John Ligonier, defending the Austrian Netherlands and the Dutch Republic. Leading the largest British force on the continent since the time of Marlborough, he faced the experienced French Marshal Maurice de Saxe, but his campaigns could not stop the fall of the Dutch Barrier Forts. Between 1748 and 1755, he tried to introduce army reforms, but these were resisted by both the opposition and the army itself. After the Convention of Klosterzeven in 1757, he never held an active military command again, turning instead to politics and horse racing.

William was born at Leicester House in Leicester Fields (now Leicester Square), Westminster, London. His parents had moved there after his grandfather, George I, accepted the invitation to become British king. On 27 July 1726, at age five, he was made Duke of Cumberland, Marquess of Berkhamstead, Earl of Kennington, Viscount of Trematon, and Baron of the Isle of Alderney. He received a good education; his mother appointed Edmond Halley as one of his tutors, and another tutor (who sometimes acted as his proxy) was her favourite, Andrew Fountaine. At Hampton Court Palace, William Kent designed apartments specially for him. His elder brother Frederick, Prince of Wales, once proposed dividing the King's dominions—Frederick would take Britain, and William would get Hanover—but this plan came to nothing.

From childhood, William showed physical courage and ability, and became his parents' favourite. At age four, he was enrolled in the 2nd Foot Guards and made a Knight of the Bath. The King and Queen intended him for the office of Lord High Admiral, and in 1740 he sailed as a volunteer in the fleet under Sir John Norris. But he quickly grew dissatisfied with the Navy and instead became colonel of the First Regiment of Foot Guards on 20 February 1741. In December 1742, he became a major-general, and the following year he saw his first active service in Germany. George II and the "martial boy" shared in the glory of the Battle of Dettingen on 27 June 1743, where Cumberland was wounded in his right leg by a musket ball. After the battle, he was made a lieutenant general.

In 1745, Cumberland was given the honorary title of Captain-General of the British land forces and became Commander-in-Chief of the allied British, Hanoverian, Austrian, and Dutch troops (known as the Pragmatic Army) in Flanders, despite his inexperience. He initially planned to take the offensive against the French, hoping to capture Paris, but his advisors convinced him this was impossible given the enemy's vast numerical superiority. When it became clear the French intended to take Tournai, Cumberland advanced to relieve the town, which was besieged by Marshal Maurice de Saxe. At the Battle of Fontenoy on 11 May 1745, the Allies were defeated. Saxe had chosen the battleground and filled nearby woods with French marksmen. Cumberland ignored the threat of the woods in his battle plans, focusing instead on seizing the village of Fontenoy and attacking the main French army. Despite a strong Anglo-Hanoverian attack on the French centre that led many to think the Allies had won, the failure to clear the woods and the Dutch forces' inability to capture Fontenoy forced Cumberland to retreat to Brussels. He could not prevent the fall of Ghent, Bruges, and Ostend. He was often criticised for his tactics, especially his failure to occupy the woods.

As the leading British general of the time, Cumberland was chosen to decisively stop Prince Charles Edward Stuart, a grandson of the former Stuart king James VII of Scotland and II of England, during the Jacobite rising of 1745. His appointment was popular and boosted morale among the public and troops loyal to King George. Recalled from Flanders, he prepared to quell the Stuart uprising. The Jacobite army had advanced south into England, hoping for English Jacobite support, but after receiving only limited backing—such as the Manchester Regiment—they decided to withdraw to Scotland. Cumberland joined the Midland army under Ligonier and pursued the enemy as they retreated north from Derby. When his advanced troops were repulsed at Clifton Moor in December 1745, he realised he could not overtake the retreating Highlanders. Carlisle was retaken, and he was recalled to London, where preparations were underway to meet an expected French invasion. The defeat of his replacement...