Queer Places:
Westminster School, Little Dean's Yard, Great Smith St, Westminster, London SW1P 3PF
Trinity College, College Green, Dublin 2, D02 P710 Co. Dublin
Drayton House, Lowick, Kettering NN14 3BB, UK
Buckhurst Park, Hartfield, Withyham TN7 4BL, UK
George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, PC (26 January 1716 – 26 August 1785), styled The Honourable George Sackville until 1720, Lord George Sackville from 1720 to 1770 and Lord George Germain from 1770 to 1782, was a British soldier and politician who served as Secretary of State for the American Department in Lord North's cabinet during the American War of Independence.
His ministry received much of the blame for Britain's loss of thirteen American colonies. His issuance of detailed instructions in military matters, coupled with his failure to understand either the geography of the American colonies or the determination of their colonists, may justify that conclusion. He had two careers, a military career, in which he rose to the rank of Major-General, and a political career, in which he rose to the rank of Secretary of State for the Colonies. His military career had distinction, but ended with his court martial. Sackville served in the British Army in the War of the Austrian Succession of 1740-1748 and in the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763, including at the decisive Battle of Minden. His political career ended with the fall of the North government in March 1782.
Viscount Sackville gained wide noteriety when court marshalled for cowardice while a British general serving under Prince Ferdinand at the Battle of Minden in Germany during the Seven Years War. One of his modern biographer's, Piers Mackesy, comments on Sackville's sexuality: I have dwelt on Sackville's homosexual reputation in the belief that it was his Achilles' heel. It may help to explain the strangely hostile reaction which he aroused in many people - a hostility which seems to go beyond what his reserve and arrogance could account for in themselves. It may explain his difficulty in forming happy working relationships with some of his colleagues, and the recurring hints of instability which flit through his life. It may shed some light on the web of passions in which the Minden affair is tangled.
One of Sackville's young partners was
Benjamin Thompson, a New England born inventor, who was made the Count von Rumford by the Elector of Bavaria. One supposes that in letters sent to America comments about Germain and Rumford must have been made, and that there was comment in return. Governor Thomas Hutchinson, in England after fleeing Massachusetts, noticed the affair when another Lord spoke of Sackville, Thompson and "what it's shocking to think of." There certainly was bolder comment in Britain. One aristocratic lady referred to "Sir Sodom Thompson, Lord Sackville's under Secretary."
Sackville was the third son of Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Lieutenant-General Walter Philip Colyear. His Godfather George I attended his baptism.[1] He was educated at Westminster School in London and graduated from Trinity College in Dublin in 1737.[2] Between 1730 and 1737 and again from 1750 to 1755, his father held the post of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. While in Dublin he befriended the celebrated writer Jonathan Swift.[3] He also encountered Lord Ligonier who would later assist his career in the military.[4]
He then entered the army. Sackville was elected Grandmaster of the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1751 and served for two years.[5]
He married Diana Sambrooke, daughter of John Sambrooke and Elizabeth Forester, on 3 September 1754. They had two sons and three daughters, including:
Diana Sackville (8 July 1756 – 29 August 1814).
Charles Sackville (27 August 1767 – 29 July 1843), later changed his name to Charles Sackville-Germain.
George Sackville (7 December 1770 – 31 May 1836)
Elizabeth, married Henry Herbert, MP.
In the Battle of Minden on 1 August 1759, British and Hanoverian infantry of the centre made an advance on the French cavalry and artillery in that sector. They apparently went in without orders and their attacking line formation even repulsed repeated French cavalry charges, holding until the last moment then firing a massive volley when the charge came within ten yards. As the disrupted French began to fall back on Minden, Ferdinand called for a British cavalry charge to complete the victory, but Sackville withheld permission for their advance. Ferdinand sent his order several times, but Sackville was estranged from Lord Granby, the force commander. He continued to withhold permission for Granby to "gain glory" through an attack. For that action, he was cashiered and sent home. Granby replaced him as commander of the British contingent for the remainder of the war.
The controversy over Lord Sackville's handling of the war continued. Some members were opposed to his taking a seat in the House of Lords, an almost unprecedented incident. However, he was admitted to the Lords, where he was staunchly defended by Lord Thurlow, and his declining health soon made the issue irrelevant. He retired to his country home at Stoneland Lodge and died there in 1785. He maintained to his dying day that he had not been a coward at Minden. Following his death, a defence of Sackville's reputation, The character of the late Viscount Sackville, was written by Richard Cumberland. A trove of the subject's letters were published by the Historical Records Commission beginning in 1904 under the title Report on the manuscripts of Mrs. Stopford-Sackville, of Drayton House, Northhamptonshire / with a new introduction and preface by George Athan Billias.[18]
The Drayton House estate passed to his son Charles, who later became the 5th (and last) Duke of Dorset. The Stoneland estate (or Buckhurst Park as it came to be known) passed via the wife of the late 3rd Duke of Dorset to her daughter Countess de la Warr on the Dowager Duchess's death in 1825.
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