COMBERMERE, Stapleton Cotton, First Viscount (1773-1865), was the second son of Sir Robert Salusbury Cotton of Combermere Abbey, Cheshire, and was born, 14th November 1773, at one of the family estates in Denbighshire. Asa boy he was distinguished for his vivacity, courage, and fondness of field sports. He was educated at Westminster School, and when only sixteen, obtained through his father a second lieutenancy in the 23d Regiment, or Royal Welsh Fusiliers. A few years afterwards (1793) he became by purchase captain of the 6th Dragoon Guards, accompanying them during the disastrous expedition to Flanders against the French. Subsequently, and while yet in his twentieth year, he joined the 25th Light Dragoons as lieutenantcolonel, and, while in attendance with his regiment on George HI. at Weymouth, he became a great favourite of the king’s. In 1796 he went with his regiment to India, and in 1799, under Lord Harris and along with Colonel Wellesley, he distinguished himself in the war with Tippoo Saib, and at the storming of Seringapatam. In 1808, being now major-general, he was sent to the seat of war in Portugal, where he shortly rose to the position of commander-in-chief of cavalry under Wellington, and it was here that he most displayed that personal courage, swiftness of action, and judgment which won for him his fame as a cavalry officer. His share in the battle of Salamanca (July 22, 1812) was especially marked, and received the personal thanks of Wellington. The day after, he was accidentally wounded in the left arm by a shot from one of the Portuguese allies. On the conclusion of peace in 1814, General Cotton was raised to the peerage under the style of Baron Combermere. He was not present at Waterloo, the command which he expected, and bitterly regretted not ...receiving, having been given to Lord Uxbridge. In 1817 he was appointed governor of Barbadoes and commander of the West Indian forces. His active military life was concluded in India (1826), where he besieged and took Bhartpur—a fort which twenty-two years previously had defied the genius of Lake, and was deemed impregnable. For this service he was created Viscount Combermere. A long period of peace and honour still remained to him at home. In 1834 he was sworn a privy councillor, and in 1852 he succeeded his old chief as constable of the Tower and lord lieutenant of the Tower Hamlets. In 1855 he received a marshal’s baton, and was made G.C.B. He discharged his duties to the last, and died at Clifton in his ninety-second year. An equestrian statue in bronze, the work of Baron Marochetti, has been raised in his honour by the inhabitants of Chester. In private life Lord Combermere was most exemplary, and the means by which he attained health and longevity (as detailed in the memoir by Viscountess Combermere and Captain Knollys, 2 vols., 1866,) afford an interesting illustration of what can be done by the exercise of a strict control over appetite and by a regular regimen :—
t, On the 14th November, 1863, Lord Combermere had reached his ninetieth year, still in the full possession of his mental faculties, and with his usual activity very little impaired; indeed, the only infirmities which afflicted him were deafness and occasional weakness of the limbs, arising as much from slight rheumatism as a failure of general strength. He still rode three hours daily, and walked short distances with his usual alert step and upright carriage. His voice was as strong, his hand as steady as ever, and he wrote clearly ahd rapidly without spectacles, which he never used except by candle-light. The wonderful memory for which he had always been remarkable never failed, and while it recalled long past events with surprising accuracy, registered and reproduced those of more recent date with equal exactness. No one could detect any failure in his quick perception or ready conclusions, nor did he betray even the most trifling of those mental deficiencies often attendant on a lesser age than his. When eighty-seven, he had danced a quadrille at a rural fête as lightly as his grandchildren, and at eighty could climb over a hurdle with ease. All these immunities from disease and decrepitude were secured by the invariable moderation which, in spite of service in various climates, left his naturally vigorous constitution unimpaired up to the very end. He rose very early in summer, and the last few years of his life rode an hour before breakfast. This meal was always very simple, and without meat of any kind. At half-past one a small luncheon and half a glass of wine satisfied him until dinner. This last was his largest meal, at which he partook plentifully of meat, and drank, for the last fifteen years, one pint of light sherry. Tea or coffee he never touched in early life, afterwards seldom indulging at breakfast in the former, usually drinking instead cocoa, as the most wholesome beverage. Plain meat, bread, and potatoes constituted his dinners, and he never for twenty-six years once transgressed the rule which he had determined to observe, of eating only what was wholesome, and avoiding fruit, vegetables, beer, champagne, salt meat, condiments, and every other article proscribed by the most rigid dietetics. Besides carefully rejecting all unwholesome food, he made it a practice to eat so slowly that he was always longer than any one else at meals. Few could resist as he did the temptation of a well-supplied table, which he wished to be luxurious for others, while he contented himself with simple fare, enjoying only the sight of the fine fruits furnished from his productive houses and well-cultivated gardens.
“Such abstinence would to many be impracticable; but Lord Combermere possessed a power of self-control which few can compass. As an instance of this, after having long indulged in the habit of taking snuff incessantly, he relinquished it suddenly and entirely. Continual smoking had equally been a practice of his earlier life, until, becoming aware of its evil effects on his health, he restricted himself to two small cigars nightly.”
