Lennox, Charles, 3rd Duke of Richmond (1735 -1806)
Charles Lennox was born 2 February 1735, the eldest son of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, and Sarah, elder daughter and coheir of William Earl Cadogan. He was educated at Westminster School, and afterwards pursued a military career, participating in the Raid on Cherbourg in 1758 and the Battle of Minden in 1759. His regiment, the 72nd Regiment of Foot was disbanded in 1763 at the end of the Seven Years’ War. He was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society on 11 December 1755. He next turned to politics, and was appointed British ambassador extraordinary in Paris in 1765, and in the following year he became a secretary of state in the Rockingham Whig administration, resigning office on the accession to power of the Earl of Chatham. He initiated the debate in 1778 calling for the removal of the troops from America, He also advocated a policy of concession in Ireland. In 1779 the duke brought forward a motion for retrenchment of the civil list; and in 1780 he embodied in a bill his proposals for parliamentary reform, which included manhood suffrage, annual parliaments and equal electoral areas. In retirement he built the famous racecourse at his the family seat at Goodwood. The adjoining towns of Richmond and Lenox in Massachusetts were named in his honour.