Marquis of George Charles Henry Victor Paget Anglesey (1922–2013)

This is a well researched biography of the first Marquess by his descendant, the seventh Marquess. It is not hagiography.
The subject lived a long vigorous life. He is famous for his cavalry charge at Waterloo where a British disaster was avoided. He lost a leg on the day; hence the title.
The access to personal letters, the very detailed notes and the range of sources available to the author give this biography a gravitas and authority that is often absent when descendants decide to remember their predecessors.
Aside from his Napoleonic War career as commander of the cavalry, Anglesey was twice Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. These political years coincided with the Catholic Emancipation Act and the various Reform Acts of the 1830's. The Marquess was fated to attempt reconciling the irreconcilable in Dublin; the London government prepared to grant minor and ineffectual reforms in Ireland, while the forces for Repeal (of the Union of Ireland with Great Britain) gathered momentum led by Daniel O'Connell.
His obituary in The Times, quoted at the end of the book, is one to die for.… (more)