Died
3 February 1814
Born
1760
Sources
Ancestry
Lancashire Online Parish Clerk
Burke's Family Records
Various art websites
Place
Walks
Themes
Lt. Gen Henry Richmond Gale
The Gale family represented here were members of the local Gentry, and their lineage is linked with military careers, and local clergy, and other members of their social class. Henry and his wife had their portraits painted early in their marriage.
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL
HENRY RICHMOND GALE
OF BARDSEA HALL
WHO DIED FEB 3RD 1814
AGED 53 YEARS
Henry Richmond Gale, by Gilbert Stuart 1785 (source) wearing the uniform of a Major in the 20th Light Dragoons, which position he had attained in April 1783.
Another portrait entitled “Lieut. General Henry Richmond Gale of Bardsea Hall (as a boy)” identified c1790 can be found on the internet.
The portrait of Mrs. Henry Richmond Gale (left) is by John Hoppner R. A.
(source: Christies online sales catalogue New York 30 January 2014. The catalogue suggests that the portrait was probably exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts 1787).
Henry Richmond Gale was a Major in the 20th Light Dragoons by April 1783.
“Gale was born in 1760, the son of John Gale (1729-1814) of Highhead Castle and Sarah Wilson (1728-1774) of Conishead Priory, Cumbria. Gale was one of five children. His older brother, Wilson Gale (1756-1818), inherited Conishead Priory through his mother and later assumed the name Braddyll. As was common in the eighteenth century, Gale, being the second son, joined the army though he saw very little, if any, action.
Gale served in the 7th Light Dragoons as first a coronet and then a lieutenant from 1778 until 1782 when he joined the 20th Light Dragoons and was promoted to Captain. When they were disbanded in 1783 Gale went on half-pay retirement as a Major and remained on half-pay for the rest of his life. Neither the 7th or 20th Light Dragoons served outside Britain. Gale’s promotions thereafter simply followed the formalities for retired officers. Gale became lieutenant colonel in 1794 then colonel in 1798, major general in 1805 and finally lieutenant general in 1811.
Although missing out on Conishead Priory which went to his elder brother, Gale inherited the Italianate Bardsea Hall. Although the house was destroyed many years ago, the triangular shaped folly within the historic grounds remains, each of the three sides facing the original homes of the family branches; Wilsons of Bardsea Hall, the Braddylls of Conishead Priory and the Gales of Whitehaven.”
Lancashire Online Parish Clerk says the Henry Richmond Gale buried in Urswick married Sarah Baldwin at Aldingham on 9 November 1785. Sarah was the daughter of Rev. Roger Baldwin, Rector of Aldingham, who has his own entry on this website.
Gales buried in Urswick
Henry Richmond Gale was buried at Urswick on 9 February 1814. His son of the same name died on 21 May 1802 aged 11 years, and was buried on 24 May 1802. Other Gales buried in Urswick include: John Gale, aged 85, (Henry’s father) of Charles Street, Covent Garden, London, was buried at Urswick on 6 November 1814. John’s wife, Sarah, of Bardsea Hall, had been buried on 15 October 1774. Another Gale, Robert Townley Parker Gale, [son of William Gale and Cecilia) of Aldingham Hall, died as an infant (D of Baptism 14 August 1828) and was buried on 31 January 1829. William Gale, of Bardsea Hall, and 77 years old, was buried on 5 December 1865.
Another document on Ancestry is Sarah Gale’s application for a Pension. It states that she has only £25 per annum ‘on the companionate list’, and has been left in ‘very moderate circumstances’. The date appears to be 17 October 1818, and she was living at Acton Terrace, Turnham Green, London. Rev. William Ponsonby, Minister of Urswick, provides supporting evidence of both marriage and burial (of Henry Richmond Gale), but the document does not say whether her application was successful.
Henry & Sarah’s children
from Lancashire Online Parish Clerk
Margaret Elizabeth Gale, daughter of Henry Richmond Gale, of Bardsea Hall, was baptised at Urswick 15 October 1786.
John Gale, son of Henry Richmond Gale, of Bardsea Hall, was baptised at Urswick 2 September 1787.
William Gale, son of Henry Richmond Gale, of Bardsea Hall, was baptised at Urswick 19 October 1788.
Henry Richmond Gale, son of Henry Richmond Gale, of Bardsea Hall, was baptised at Urswick on 9 January 1791.
Henry & Sarah’s grandson (By William)
Henry Richmond Hoghton Gale, son of William Gale, Gentleman, and Cecilia, was baptised at Urswick on 24 June 1830. This Henry Richmond Hoghton Gale is listed in Thom’s Directory of Great Britain and Ireland 1871 as living in Bardsea Hall.
Henry & Sarah’s great-grandson
One of this Henry’s children was named Henry Richmond Gale: “(who) was born on April 16, 1866, to Emma and Henry Richmond Hoghton Gale. The family lived at Bardsea Hall, Ulverstone, Lancashire, England. He was first educated at Elstree and then in 1880 went to Harrow School in Middlesex and was in the Shooting VIII for two years. Gale attended the Royal Military College in Woolwich where he obtained a commission in the Royal Engineers in 1885. He soon went to South Africa, and his work there and knowledge of the languages caused him to be sent out later, just before the outbreak of the Boer War, in which he acted as Intelligence Officer in Rimington's Corps of Guides, 1899-1902, obtaining two brevets and two medals with ten clasps.
On May 6, 1903, he married Kathleen Jane Villiers-Stuart and they had three children: Kathleen, Lois and Ethne. …
In the Great War he was in France, in the Ypres salient and in Flanders. He was invested as a Companion, Order of St. Michael and St. George (C.M.G.) in 1916 and was Assistant Director of Works, 1916-17, and chief engineer, 1917-18. He retired with the rank of Brigadier-General and in 1919 moved to Victoria on Vancouver Island where he built a neo-Tudor manor house called 'Bardsey'.”
From Burke’s Family Records:
written as original
William (Gale), of Whitehaven, b. circa 1693, m. Margaret, dau. of Christopher Richmond, of High Head Castle, co. Cumberland, and d 9 May 1774, having by her, who d. 25 Sept. 1759, aged 69, had issue, a son and dau.,
John, of High Head Castle, High Sheriff for co. Cumberland, bapt. 24 Feb. 1730, m. Sarah, dau. and co-heir of Christopher Wilson, of Bardsey Hall, Urswick, co. Lancaster, by Margaret, his wife, aunt and co-heir of Thomas Braddyll, of Braddyll, and Conishead, and d. 19 Oct. 1814, having by her, who d. 10 Oct. 1774, had issue,
(1) Wilson, of Braddyll, Portfield and Conishead Priory, sometime M.P., who assumed by Royal Warrant, 15 Aug. 1776, the name and arms of Braddyll, bapt. 24 Feb. 1756, m. 29 Jan 1776, his cousin, Jane, dau. and heir of Matthias Gale, of Catgill House, Cumberland and d. 19 Nov. 1818, having by her, who d 6 Nov. 1819, had issue (see BURKE’S Landed Gentry, BRADYLL, of High Head).
(2) William, bapt. 4 Nov. 1759, d. at school in Birmingham.
(3) Henry Richmond, of Bardsey Hall, Lieut.-Gen. in the Army 1811, bapt. 20 Dec. 1760, m. 9 Nov. 1785, Sarah, dau. of Rev. Roger Baldwin, rector of Aldingham and Prebendary of Carlisle, and d. 3 Feb. 1814, leaving issue (see BURKE’S Landed Gentry, GALE, of Bardsey Hall).
(4) Margaret, bapt. 26 May 1757, m. 25 July, Richard Greaves Townley, of Fulbourne, co. Cambridge, and had issue (see BURKE’S Landed Gentry).
(5) Sarah, bapt. 25 May, 1759, m. 23 Nov. 1784 (as his second wife), George Bigland, of Bigland Hall, co. Lancaster (see BURKE’S Landed Gentry).
