Lord Charles Petty-Fitzmaurice

Lord Charles George Francis Fitzmaurice MVO (12 February 1874 – 30 October 1914) was an English soldier and courtier. For the last few months of his life he was known as Lord Charles Mercer Nairne. Early life Fitzmaurice was the younger son of the former Lady Maud Evelyn Hamilton and Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, a British statesman who served successively as the fifth Governor General of Canada, Viceroy of India, Secretary of State for War, and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. His elder brother, Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice became the 6th Marquess and Charles inherited the Meikleour estate. His paternal grandparents were Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 4th Marquess of Lansdowne, and his wife, Emily, 8th Lady Nairne (née Joseph). His maternal grandparents were James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn, and his wife Lady Louisa Jane Russell (a daughter of John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford). Career He joined the 1st King's Dragoon Guards in 1895, and served as an aide-de-camp to Frederick Roberts during the Boer War 1899–1900. He stayed as a lieutenant of the 1st Dragoon Guards until January 1901, when he was seconded for service on the army staff as Aide-de-camp to Lord Roberts, who had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Forces. Lord Roberts resigned when this post was abolished in early 1904, and Petty-Fitzmaurice was promoted to captain of his former regiment the 1st Dragoons in October 1904.