Charles Bennet, 6th Earl of Tankerville

Charles Augustus Bennet, 6th Earl of Tankerville PC (10 January 1810 – 18 December 1899), styled Lord Ossulston between 1822 and 1859, was a British peer and Conservative politician. He served as Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms between 1866 and 1867 and as Lord Steward of the Household between 1867 and 1868.

Background and education

Bennet was born at Charles Street, Berkeley Square, London, the eldest son of Charles Bennet, 5th Earl of Tankerville and Armandine Corisande de Gramont, daughter of the French duke of Gramont and duke of Guiche. He was educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford. He became known by the courtesy title Lord Ossulston on the death of his grandfather in 1822.

Political career

Lord Ossulston entered Parliament as Member of Parliament for North Northumberland in 1832. He held this seat until 1859, when he was summoned to the House of Lords through a writ of acceleration in his father's barony of Ossulston. He succeeded his father in the earldom only a month later. On 8 March 1833, he was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Northumberland. He served under the Earl of Derby as Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms from 1866 to 1867 and under Derby and then Benjamin Disraeli as Lord Steward of the Household from 1867 to 1868. In 1866 he was sworn of the Privy Council.

Family

Lord Tankerville married Lady Olivia Montagu (18 July 1830 – 15 February 1922), eldest daughter of George Montagu, 6th Duke of Manchester, at Kimbolton Castle, Huntingdonshire, on 29 January 1850. They had five children:

• Charles Bennett, Lord Ossulston (1850–1879), entered the Coldstream Guards as an ensign and lieutenant by purchase in 1870, exchanged to the Rifle Brigade as a lieutenant in 1873, died of cholera in India.
• George Montagu Bennet, 7th Earl of Tankerville (1852–1931), m. Leonora van Marter
• Hon. Frederick Augustus (1853–1891), died unmarried.
• Lady Corisande Olivia (1855-1941), died unmarried.
• Lady Ida Louise (d. 1887), married John Ramsay, 13th Earl of Dalhousie.

Lord Tankerville died at the family seat of Chillingham Castle, Northumberland, in December 1899, aged 89, and was succeeded by his second but only surviving son, George. The Countess of Tankerville died at Greystones, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, on 15 February 1922, aged 91, and was interred at Chillingham on 20 February 1922.