Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Carpenter, George
CARPENTER, GEORGE, Lord Carpenter (1667–1732), general, descended from the ancient family of Carpenter of Holme in Herefordshire, was born at Pitchers Ocul, Herefordshire, on 10 Feb. 1657. His father, a royalist soldier, was wounded at the battle of Naseby, and George, who was the youngest of seven children, commenced life as a page to the Earl of Montagu in his embassy to Paris in 1671. In the following year he rode as a private in the 3rd troop of guards, and shortly afterwards he was appointed quartermaster in Lord Peterborough's regiment of horse. In this regiment he served for seventeen years, and eventually became lieutenant-colonel, and with it he saw service both in the Irish campaign of 1690 and in Flanders. In 1693 he married the Honourable Alice Margetson, daughter of William, first viscount Charlemont, and widow of James Margetson, with a portion of whose dowry he purchased for 1,800 guineas the colonelcy of the King's dragoon guards. With this regiment he served in Flanders, and became famous for his conspicuous gallantry. In 1705 Carpenter was appointed a brigadier-general under Peterborough, and seems to have performed the double function of quartermaster-general and general of the cavalry in Spain. As a quartermaster-general he was said to have no equal, and as a general of cavalry he saved the baggage of the English army, and covered the retreat at the head of his dragoons after the defeat of Almanga. He was wounded at Almenara, and was severely wounded in the mouth and taken prisoner while desperately defending the breach at Brihuega. He was promoted lieutenant-general in 1710, and on his return to England was one of the general officers who were resolved at all hazards to maintain the protestant succession. When George I had been proclaimed, Stanhope nominated Carpenter to go as ambassador to Vienna, but on the outbreak of the rebellion of 1715 he was entrusted instead with supreme command over all the forces in the north of England. He prevented the rebels from seizing Newcastle, and when he heard that they had advanced into Lancashire, rapidly followed them; found them at Preston, where General Wills was blockading them in a half-hearted way, and forced the whole rebel army to capitulate. On reaching London he was challenged by General Wills in February 1716, and a duel was with difficulty prevented by the Dukes of Montagu and Marlborough. In return for his great services he was nominated governor of Minorca and commander-in-chief of the forces in Scotland. In 1714 he was returned to parliament as M.P. for Whitchurch in Hampshire, and on 29 May 1719 he was created Lord Carpenter of Killaghy, co. Kilkenny, in the peerage of Ireland. In 1722 he was elected M.P. for Westminster, but did not seek re-election in 1729, and died at the age of seventy-five, on 10 Feb. 1732, and was buried at Ouselbury in Hampshire. His grandson was created Viscount Carlingford and Earl of Tyrconnel in the peerage of Ireland on 1 May 1761, but the earldom, viscounty, and barony became extinct on the death of the fourth earl, 26 Jan. 1853.
[Life of the late Right Honourable George, Lord Carpenter, London. Printed for Edward Curll, 1736, from which all other notices are borrowed; Lord Mahon's War of the Spanish Succession in Spain, for his services in Spain.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.55
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 154 | i | 22 f.e. | Carpenter, George, Lord Carpenter: for general read lieutenant-general |
| ii | 3 | after gallantry insert He was M.P. for Newtownards in the Irish House of Commons | |
| 38 | for 1714 read January 1714-5 | ||
| 44 | for 1729 read 1727 |