Henry Wyndham

Who was Henry Wyndham?

General Sir Henry Wyndham KCB was a British Army General and Conservative Party politician. He was Member of Parliament for Cockermouth from 1852 to 1857 and for West Cumberland from 1857 to until his death in 1860.

Wyndham was the second son of George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont and Elizabeth Ilive, of Petworth House, near Chichester, West Sussex, and a descendant of John Wyndham who played an important role in the establishment of defence organisation in the West Country against the threat of Spanish invasion.

As a young officer, then-Captain Henry Wyndham fought at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, where he was severely injured. He had taken part in the famous closing of the gates at Hougoumont and was said to have been so disturbed by the incident that he would never again close a door, preferring to sit in a room in a howling draught. During the battle, his life had been saved by Corporal James Graham, the soldier responsible for slotting the bar home after the North Gate was shut.

Pictures of the battles of Battle of Vittoria and Waterloo were commissioned by Wyndham's father from George Jones, RA. They hang in the Beauty Room of Petworth House.