Augustus Charles Lennox FitzRoy, 7th Duke of Grafton (22 June 1821 – 4 December 1918), styled Lord Augustus FitzRoy before 1882, was a British Army officer.
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Early life
He was the second son of Henry FitzRoy, 5th Duke of Grafton, and his wife Mary Caroline Cranfield Berkeley. Among his siblings were Lady Mary Elizabeth Emily FitzRoy (wife of the Rev. Hon. Augustus Phipps, the youngest son of The Earl of Mulgrave), Lady Maria Louisa FitzRoy (wife of Edward Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn), William FitzRoy, 6th Duke of Grafton, and Lord Frederick FitzRoy (who married Catherine Sarah Wilhelimna Wescomb, daughter of the Rev. William Wescomb).
His paternal grandparents were George FitzRoy, 4th Duke of Grafton and Lady Charlotte Maria Waldegrave (a daughter of the 2nd Earl Waldegrave and Maria Walpole, herself the illegitimate daughter of Sir Edward Walpole). His maternal grandparents were Adm. Hon. Sir George Cranfield Berkeley and Emilia Charlotte Lennox (a daughter of Lord George Lennox).
Career and inheritance
He joined the army in 1837 and was wounded in the Crimean War.
In 1882 upon the death of his elder brother, William, who died without issue, he succeeded to the dukedom of Grafton (created in September 1675 in the Peerage of England for his direct ancestor, Henry FitzRoy, an illegitimate son of King Charles II of England and his mistress Barbara Villiers), as well as the subsidiary titles, Earl of Euston, Viscount Ipswich and Baron Sudbury.
His older brother, the 6th Duke of Grafton had taken a new London residence at No. 4 Grosvenor Place, Belgravia in April 1874, which Augustus inherited following his succession to the Dukedom. During the first years of his tenure as Duke, Augustus also resided at the Grosvenor Place house whilst in London, before eventually selling the lease of the property in March 1890. Augustus subsequently took a lease of a new London house overlooking The Mall at No. 17 Carlton House Terrace from 1891 until 1901. From 1902 his London home was No. 6 Chesterfield Gardens, which he continued to occupy whilst in London for the remainder of his life.
Personal life
On 9 June 1847, he married Anna Balfour (1825–1857), daughter of James Balfour, MP, and Lady Eleanor Maitland (a daughter of the Tory politician James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale). Together, they had four children:
Lady Eleanor FitzRoy (1853–1905), who married Walter Harbord, son of Edward Harbord, 3rd Baron Suffield, and had issue.
Henry James FitzRoy, Earl of Euston (1848–1912), who married Kate Walsh; no issue.
Alfred FitzRoy, 8th Duke of Grafton (1850–1930), who married Margaret Rose Smith in 1875. After her death in 1913, he married Lady Borthwick (née Susanna Mary MacTaggart-Stewart), widow of Archibald Borthwick, 20th Lord Borthwick and daughter of Sir Mark McTaggart-Stewart, 1st Baronet, in 1916.
Lord Charles Edward FitzRoy (1857–1911), who married his distant cousin Hon. Ismay FitzRoy, a daughter of the 3rd Baron Southampton, and had issue (Charles FitzRoy, 10th Duke of Grafton).
He died in 1918, aged 97, at Wakefield Lodge near Potterspury, Northamptonshire.