by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2024

From 1790 until 1811, before he became king, King William IV of the United Kingdom had a long-term relationship with actress Dorothea Jordan. Their relationship resulted in ten children who were given the surname FitzClarence. The surname comes from the Anglo-Norman word  Fitz, meaning “son of” and Clarence, from King William IV’s title before he became king, Duke of Clarence.

Dorothea Jordan was born Dorothea Bland was born in County Waterford, Ireland, the daughter of Francis Bland, a stagehand, and his mistress Grace Phillips, an actress. Her mother encouraged Dorothea to enter the theater, and within a few years, she began to draw large crowds for her performances. She left Ireland in 1782 and moved to Leeds, England. It was at this point that she took the name Jordan. She performed for three years with the York Company, before being lured away in 1785 to move to the Royal Theatre, Drury Lane in London. By then, Dorothea was becoming a very popular performer and could be counted on to bring large crowds every night. It was at Drury Lane that her life would come to the attention of The Duke of Clarence several years later.

Frederick’s parents The Duke of Clarence (later King William IV) and Dorothea Jordan

In 1790, Dorothea was first noticed by The Duke of Clarence (later King William IV) while performing at Drury Lane. They quickly began an affair that would last for the next 21 years. Dorothea moved in with the Duke at his home, Clarence Lodge in Roehampton, London, England and later they moved to Bushy House in Bushy Park in Richmond upon Thames, London, England.

Lord Frederick FitzClarence was born on December 9, 1799, at Bushy House in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. He was the fifth of the ten children and the fourth of the five sons of the future King William IV of the United Kingdom and his mistress Dorothea Jordan. Frederick’s paternal grandparents were  King George III of the United Kingdom and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Francis Bland, a stagehand, and his mistress Grace Phillips, an actress were his maternal grandparents.

In 1797, King George III of the United Kingdom appointed his third son William, then Duke of Clarence, the ranger of Bushy Park. The position came with the residence Bushy House in Bushy Park. William and Dorothea lived there with their ten children until their relationship ended in 1811. William continued living there with his children and later with his wife Adelaide Saxe-Meinigen after they married in 1818.

Frederick had nine full siblings:

• George FitzClarence, 1st Earl of Munster (1794 – 1842), married Mary Wyndham, had seven children
• Henry Edward FitzClarence (1795 – 1817), unmarried, died at age 22
• Sophia FitzClarence (1796 – 1837), married Philip Sidney, 1st Baron De L’Isle and Dudley, had four children
• Mary FitzClarence (1798 – 1864), married Charles Fox, no children
• Elizabeth FitzClarence (1801 – 1856), married William Hay, 18th Earl of Erroll, had four children
• Adolphus FitzClarence (1802 – 1856), unmarried
• Augusta FitzClarence (1803 – 1865), married (1) The Honorable John Kennedy-Erskine, had three children (2) Admiral Lord Federick Gordon-Hallyburton, no children
• Augustus FitzClarence (1805 – 1854), married Sarah Elizabeth Gordon, had six children
• Amelia FitzClarence (1807-1858), married Lucius Bentinck Cary, 10th Viscount Falkland, had one son

William and Dorothea’s children married into the British aristocracy and their many descendants include some notable people including sisters Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife and Princess Maud, Countess of Southesk (granddaughters of King Edward VII and daughters of Princess Louise, Princess Royal and Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife, a descendant of Dorothea Jordan and King William IV), Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich (British diplomat, Cabinet member, author), John Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute (also known as Johnny Dumfries, racing driver), and David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

By 1811, William was pressured by his family to find a suitable wife. At the time he was fourth in line for the throne following his elder brother The Prince of Wales, the future King George IV, George’s only child Princess Charlotte of Wales, and George’s next oldest brother who was childless Prince Frederick, Duke of York. William gave in to the pressure and ended his relationship with Dorothea but ensured she was well provided for. William became closer to the throne when his niece Princess Charlotte died in 1817 giving birth to a stillborn son. When King George IV died in 1830, William succeeded to the throne. Although William had ten children with Dorothea Jordan, his marriage with Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen produced no surviving children. King William IV was succeeded by his niece Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria had relationships with her first cousins, King William IV’s illegitimate children. They are mentioned in Queen Victoria’s diaries when visiting Windsor Castle.

Frederick and his siblings had little contact with their mother Dorothea Jordan after 1811 when their father ended his relationship with her. After losing much of her savings when her daughter Augusta and her husband ran up large debts in her name, Dorothea’s health quickly began to decline. Virtually penniless, Dorothea Jordan died in Saint-Cloud, France on July 5, 1816, at the age of 54. She is buried in the local cemetery in Saint-Cloud.

On May 19, 1821, Frederick married Lady Augusta Boyle (1801 – 1876), the daughter of George Boyle, 4th Earl of Glasgow and Lady Augusta Hay. The couple made their home at Etal Manor in Etal, a village in Northumberland, England.

Frederick and Augusta had two children:

• Augusta FitzClarence (1823 – 1855), unmarried
• William FitzClarence (born and died 1827)

Frederick had a military career. In 1814, when he was nearly fifteen, Frederick was commissioned an officer in the British Army. He served in the Waterloo Campaign (June 15 – July 8, 1815) which ended the Napoleonic Wars. In 1820, while a Captain in the Coldstream Guards, Frederick commanded a small detachment in support of the police with the arrest of the Cato Street Conspirators, who plotted to murder the British cabinet ministers and Prime Minister Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool. For his leadership during the arrest, which resulted in a violent street fight, Frederick was promoted to Colonel of the 36th Regiment of Foot. Frederick was Lieutenant-Governor of Portsmouth from 1846 – 1851, South-West District Commander commanding an army military district from 1847 – 1851, and Commander-in-Chief of the Bombay Army from 1852 until he died in 1854. His highest military rank was Lieutenant-General.

Lord Frederick FitzClarence, aged fifty-four, died on October 30, 1854, in Pune, Maharashtra, India in active service as Commander-in-Chief of the Bombay Army. When his remains arrived in Bombay, India on November 13, 1854, they were received with honors by his nephew Lucius Cary, Master of Falkland, the son of his sister Lady Amelia FitzClarence and Lucius Cary, 10th Viscount Falkland. A ship carrying Frederick’s remains embarked for England on November 24, 1854, with his widow, daughter, and nephew Lucius Cary, Master of Falkland aboard. The ship arrived in Southampton, England on January 22, 1855. The remains were received by Frederick’s brother Lord Adolphus FitzClarence and his brothers-in-law Lucius Cary, 10th Viscount Falkland and The Honorable George Boyle (later 6th Earl of Glasgow).

Frederick’s widow Augusta built a mortuary chapel for her husband and their daughter Augusta who died in 1855, just a year after her father died. Their burial site, the Chapel of St Mary the Virgin, stands beside the drive leading to Etal Manor, which was the home of Frederick and Augusta. William Butterfield, a successful architect of many Victorian Gothic Revival churches, built the chapel. Originally a private chapel, the Chapel of St. Mary the Virgin is now a parish church of the Church of England. Augusta survived her husband by twenty-two years, dying, aged seventy-five, on July 28, 1876, at her home, Etal Manor. She is buried with her husband and their daughter in the Chapel of St. Mary the Virgin.

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Works Cited

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