Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lumley, William
LUMLEY, Sir WILLIAM (1769–1850), general, seventh son of Richard Lumley (d. 1710), fourth earl of Scarborough, by Barbara, sister and heir of Sir George Savile, bart., of Rufford, Nottinghamshire, was born on 28 Aug. 1769. He was educated at Eton and in 1787 was appointed cornet in the 10th light dragoons (now hussars), in which he obtained his lieutenancy in 1791, and his troop in 1793. In 1794 he was made major in Ward's corps of foot, and on 24 May 1795 lieutenant-colonel of the old 22nd light dragoons (the third of four regiments that successively bore that number). He commanded the 22nd dragoons during the Irish rebellion, and on 7 June 1798 was severely wounded at Antrim, where his judgment prevented the sack of the town by the rebels, and saved the lives of the magistrates, Lord O'Neil excepted. He also commanded the regiment in Egypt, where it served during the latter part of the campaign of 1801. He superintended the embarkation at Alexandria of the French garrison of Cairo. The 22nd dragoons was disbanded in 1802. In 1803 Lumley was appointed colonel of the 3rd battalion of the army of reserve, in the organisation of which he took much interest. When the army of reserve was ordered to be broken up, Lumley induced all the men of the battalion who passed the required test (four hundred in all) to re-engage for life service, but the authorities then changed their plans, and ordered the men to be disbanded (Phillipart). Lumley, who became a major-general in 1805, commanded a brigade in the London district that year; with his brigade he was afterwards at the recapture of the Cape of Good Hope in 1806, and in the operations in South America in 1806–7, where he commanded the advance of the army in the landing at Maldonado and the attack on Montevideo. He also served with General Whitelocke in the disastrous attempt on Buenos Ayres. He subsequently held a like position in Sicily, and commanded the light brigade, which formed the advance of Sir John Stuart's expedition to the coast of Italy in 1809, and captured Ischia. An interesting account of the expedition, and of the position of affairs in Sicily at the time, has been left by Sir H. E. Bunbury [q. v.] (see Narrative of Passages in the War with France).
Lumley joined Wellington's army in the Peninsula in 1810. He commanded the attack on the Fort Christoval side during the first siege of Badajoz, and commanded the allied cavalry with Beresford at the battle of Albuera (gold medal), and in the cavalry affair at Usagre. He was invalided home in August 1811, and did not serve in the Peninsula again. He became a lieutenant-general in 1814. He was governor and commander-in-chief at Bermuda from 1819 to 1825, during which time, in his ex-officio position as ‘ordinary,’ or person possessing episcopal authority in ecclesiastical matters, he had disputes with the churchwardens of the colonial parish of St. George. A case thence arising was ultimately carried before Lord Chief Justice Tenterden, who expressed an opinion that, if Lumley possessed the powers claimed, he had used them illegally, and a verdict, with 1,000l. damages, was given against him (see Ann. Reg. 1829).
Lumley was made K.C.B. in 1815, and G.C.B. in 1831. He attained the rank of general 1837. He was colonel in succession of the 3rd battalion of reserve, the royal West Indian rangers (disbanded in 1818), the 6th Inniskilling dragoons, and the 1st king's dragoon guards, to which he was appointed in 1840. He was a groom of the bedchamber to Queen Victoria, as he had been to her three predecessors, and in 1842 was made an extra groom-in-waiting. He married, first, in 1804, Mary, daughter of Thomas Sutherland; she died in 1807. Secondly, in 1817, Louisa Margaret, widow of Colonel Lynch Cotton (d. 1799 in India); she survived Lumley, and died in 1859. Lumley died at his residence, Green Street, Grosvenor Square, London, on 15 Dec. 1850.
[Foster's Peerage under ‘Scarborough;’ Philippart's Royal Military Calendar, 1820, vol. iii.; Gurwood's Well. Desp. vols. iii, iv, v.; Wellington's Supp. Desp. vi, vii, xiii, xv.]