Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
Encyclopedia
Admiral
Victor Ferdinand Franz Eugen Gustaf Adolf Constantin Friedrich of Hohenlohe-Langenburg GCB
(11 December 1833 – 31 December 1891), also known as Count Gleichen, was an officer in the Royal Navy
, and a sculptor.
in Württemberg
, the fourth child and third son of Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1794–1860) and Princess Feodora of Leiningen
(1807–1872). His mother was Queen Victoria
's half-sister, and his family was therefore closely related to the British Royal Family
.
Victor (sometimes spelled Viktor) became an officer in the Royal Navy
in 1848 and was promoted to Lieutenant
in 1854. As a Lieutenant, he served on the first-rate HMS St Jeanne d'Arc in the Mediterranean under Captain Henry Keppel
in 1855; commanded HMS Traveller for a few months in 1856 after her launch until she was paid off
; served again under Keppel again on the fourth-rate HMS Raleigh in the East Indies and China, until she was wrecked near Macau
in 1857. He was recommended for the Victoria Cross
for his service in China
in 1856. He was promoted to Commander
in 1857, and commanded the first-rate sloop HMS Scourge in the Mediterranean. Promoted to Captain
in 1859, he took command of the 21-gun corvette HMS Racoon from commissioning in 1863 until 1866, during which time Queen Victoria's second son, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh
(1844–1900) served on board as a lieutenant. He retired from active service in 1866, and was appointed KCB that year (advanced to GCB in 1887).
Examples of his work include
, the younger daughter of Admiral Sir George Francis Seymour
(under whom he served on HMS Cumberland
in the 1850s) on 24 January 1861 in London
. Shortly before his morganatic marriage, his wife was created Countess Gleichen, after Gleichen
which was at one stage owned by a branch of the Hohenlohe
family. They had four children:
Prince Victor's only son, also known as Count Gleichen, became a Major General
in the British Army
, he changed his title in the First World War to "Lord Edward Gleichen
".
Prince Victor reverted to the title of Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg in December 1885, and was given the rank of admiral
in 1887. He died in London
and was buried at Sunningdale
.
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
Victor Ferdinand Franz Eugen Gustaf Adolf Constantin Friedrich of Hohenlohe-Langenburg GCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
(11 December 1833 – 31 December 1891), also known as Count Gleichen, was an officer in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, and a sculptor.
Biography
He was born at LangenburgLangenburg
Langenburg is a town in the district of Schwäbisch Hall, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on a hill above the river Jagst, 18 km northeast of Schwäbisch Hall...
in Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
, the fourth child and third son of Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1794–1860) and Princess Feodora of Leiningen
Princess Feodora of Leiningen
Princess Feodora of Leiningen was the only daughter of Emich Carl, Prince of Leiningen and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld . Feodora and her older brother Carl, 3rd Prince of Leiningen were maternal half-siblings of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom...
(1807–1872). His mother was Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
's half-sister, and his family was therefore closely related to the British Royal Family
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
.
Victor (sometimes spelled Viktor) became an officer in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
in 1848 and was promoted to Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in 1854. As a Lieutenant, he served on the first-rate HMS St Jeanne d'Arc in the Mediterranean under Captain Henry Keppel
Henry Keppel
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Keppel, GCB, OM was a British admiral, son of the 4th Earl of Albemarle and of his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Lord de Clifford.-Naval career:...
in 1855; commanded HMS Traveller for a few months in 1856 after her launch until she was paid off
Ship decommissioning
To decommission a ship is to terminate her career in service in the armed forces of her nation. A somber occasion, it has little of the elaborate ceremony of ship commissioning, but carries significant tradition....
; served again under Keppel again on the fourth-rate HMS Raleigh in the East Indies and China, until she was wrecked near Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
in 1857. He was recommended for the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
for his service in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
in 1856. He was promoted to Commander
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
in 1857, and commanded the first-rate sloop HMS Scourge in the Mediterranean. Promoted to Captain
Captain (Royal Navy)
Captain is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy. It ranks above Commander and below Commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a Colonel in the British Army or Royal Marines and to a Group Captain in the Royal Air Force. The rank of Group Captain is based on the...
in 1859, he took command of the 21-gun corvette HMS Racoon from commissioning in 1863 until 1866, during which time Queen Victoria's second son, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh
Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the third Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and reigned from 1893 to 1900. He was also a member of the British Royal Family, the second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha...
(1844–1900) served on board as a lieutenant. He retired from active service in 1866, and was appointed KCB that year (advanced to GCB in 1887).
Works
He became a sculptor after retiring from the Navy.Examples of his work include
- the huge statue of Alfred the GreatAlfred the GreatAlfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...
in the market square of WantageWantageWantage is a market town and civil parish in the Vale of the White Horse, Oxfordshire, England. The town is on Letcombe Brook, about south-west of Abingdon and a similar distance west of Didcot....
, Oxfordshire. - the bust of Mary SeacoleMary SeacoleMary Jane Seacole , sometimes known as Mother Seacole or Mary Grant, was a Jamaican nurse best known for her involvement in the Crimean War. She set up and operated boarding houses in Panama and the Crimea to assist in her desire to treat the sick...
made in 1871, in the Institute of Jamaica in Kingston, JamaicaKingston, JamaicaKingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...
. - the statue of Queen Victoria in the North quadrangle of Royal Holloway College, University of London, Egham, Surrey.
- the statue of Thomas HollowayThomas HollowayThomas Holloway was a patent medicine vendor and philanthropist from England.-Early life:Holloway was born in Devonport, a district of Plymouth in the county of Devon, the eldest son of Thomas and Mary Holloway , who at the time of their son's birth had a bakery business. They later moved to...
with his wife Jane, in the South quadrangle of Royal Holloway College, University of London, Egham, Surrey. - the statue of Frederick GyeFrederick GyeFrederick Gye was an English businessman and opera manager who for many years ran what is now the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.-Life:...
at the Royal Opera HouseRoyal Opera HouseThe Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
, Covent Garden, London, 1880
Family
He married Laura Williamina SeymourPrincess Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
Princess Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg was a British-born aristocrat whose marriage to a German prince naturalised in England made her a kinswoman of the British Royal Family and a member of the royal court.-Ancestry:Laura Williamina Seymour was a daughter of Admiral Sir George Seymour and his...
, the younger daughter of Admiral Sir George Francis Seymour
George Francis Seymour
Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Francis Seymour, GCB, GCH, PC was a Royal Navy officer.-Naval career:...
(under whom he served on HMS Cumberland
HMS Cumberland (1842)
HMS Cumberland was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 21 October 1842 at Chatham Dockyard.She carried a crew of 620 men. In March 1854 she sailed to the Baltic Sea as war with Russia was imminent . Cumberland was involved in the attack on Bomarsund, Finland in...
in the 1850s) on 24 January 1861 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Shortly before his morganatic marriage, his wife was created Countess Gleichen, after Gleichen
Gleichen
Gleichen is the name of two groups of castles in Germany, thus named from their resemblance to each other .- Castles in Thuringia between Gotha and Erfurt :...
which was at one stage owned by a branch of the Hohenlohe
Hohenlohe
Hohenlohe is the name of a German princely family and the name of their principality.At first rulers of a county, its two branches were raised to the rank of principalities of the Holy Roman Empire in 1744 and 1764 respectively; in 1806 they lost their independence and their lands formed part of...
family. They had four children:
- Count (Albert) Edward WilfredLord Edward GleichenMajor-General Lord Albert "Edward" Wilfred Gleichen, KCVO, CB, CMG, DSO was a British courtier and soldier....
(1863–1937), soldier. - Countess Feodora Georgina MaudLady Feodora GleichenLady Feodora Georgina Maud Gleichen was a British sculptress of figures and portrait busts and designer of decorative objects....
(1861–1922), sculptor. - Countess Victoria "Valda" Alice Leopoldina Ada Laura (1868–1951), singer.
- Countess Helena EmilyLady Helena GleichenLady Helena Emily Gleichen, OBE, DStJ was a British painter of landscapes, flowers, and animals, with a particular passion for horses....
(1873–1947), artist.
Prince Victor's only son, also known as Count Gleichen, became a Major General
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
in the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
, he changed his title in the First World War to "Lord Edward Gleichen
Lord Edward Gleichen
Major-General Lord Albert "Edward" Wilfred Gleichen, KCVO, CB, CMG, DSO was a British courtier and soldier....
".
Prince Victor reverted to the title of Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg in December 1885, and was given the rank of admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
in 1887. He died in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and was buried at Sunningdale
Sunningdale
Sunningdale is a large village and civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England.-Location:Sunningdale is located close to the present border with Surrey, and is not far from Ascot, Sunninghill and Virginia Water. It is situated 24 miles west of London and 7...
.