Social Victorians/People/Wolseley

Also Known As

• Family name: Wolseley
• Viscount Wolseley (in the U.K. peerage, with special remainder to his daughter)
  • Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley (28 September 1885 – 25 March 1913)
  • Frances Garnet Wolseley, Viscountess Wolseley (25 March 1913 – 24 December 1936)
• Viscountess Wolseley
  • Louisa Erskine Wolseley (28 September 1885 – 25 March 1913, when her husband died)
• Baron Wolseley (in the U.K. peerage)
  • Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley (25 November 1882 – 25 March 1913)

Demographics

• Nationality: Anglo-Irish

Residences

• Mount Wolseley, County Carlow

Family

• Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley (4 June 1833 – 25 March 1913)
• Louisa Erskine Wolseley (1843 – 10 April 1920)
  • Frances Garnet Wolseley, Viscountess Wolseley (15 September 1872 – 24 December 1936)

Organizations

• British Army; present for the following:
  • Indian Mutiny (1857–1859)
  • China War (1860–1861)
  • U.S. Civil War, sympathized with the South
  • Canada (1865–1870)
  • Ashanti Campaign (1873–1874)
  • Natal (24 February 1875–1876)
  • Egypt (August 1882 – 1 September 1884)
  • Khartoum (1884 to rescue Gordon, too late)
  • Commander-in-Chief, Ireland (1890–1895)
  • Commander-in-Chief, British Army (1895–1899)

Timeline

1897 July 2, Friday, Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley, Lady Wolseley, and Miss Wolseley attended the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball at Devonshire House.

1901, February, Garnet Wolseley took part in Queen Victoria's funeral procession.

1913 March 31, Garnet Wolseley was buried in St. Paul's.

Costume at the Duchess of Devonshire's 2 July 1897 Fancy-dress Ball

At the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball, Garnet Wolseley (at 171) sat at Table 6 in the first supper seating. Lady Louisa Wolseley (at 541) is not listed as part of the first supper seating.

• "Viscountess Wolseley was wearing a polonaise of cream and flowered brocade, with a Watteau back, and opening over a mauve and green shot moiré underdress."

Miss Frances Garnet Wolseley (at 542) also attended.

Notes and Questions

1. Garnet Wolseley was the model for the "model Major-General" of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance because of his reputation for efficiency; George Grossmith modeled his characterization of the Major-General on Wolseley as well.
2. Garnet Wolseley died of the flu in 1913; they were vacationing on the French Riviera.

Works by Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley

• Narrative of the War with China in 1860 (1862)
• The Soldier's Pocket-Book for field service (1869)
• "General Lee." Macmillan's Magazine March 1887 (55:329): 321–331.
• The Life of John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, to the Accession of Queen Anne (1894)
• The Decline and Fall of Napoleon (1895)
• The Story of a Soldier's Life, Vol. I (1903)
• The Story of a Soldier's Life, Vol. II (1904)
• General Lee (1906)