No need to call me "Lord"! -- It's just plain "George Hanger", if you please! If you must give me a title I'd much rather you call me Major or Colonel.
I was born 13 October 1751 in Gloucestershire and am the third son (of seven children) of Lord Coleraine. My father was Gabriel Hanger, a Parliamentarian who was created Baron Coleraine in 1762. I attended Reading School (an abominable institution!!!) and then Eton where in my fifth form I dedicated my energies to sports & hunting by day or studying the newspaper. At night I frequently risked breaking my neck in getting over the roofs of my boarding houses to pass a few hours with some favourite grizette of Windsor. I then attended the Universität-Göttingen where I picked up my German and met the Hessians. It was my dearest wish to join with the army of Count Romansoff, but my father refused to advance me the money for it.
In 1771, I returned to England and joined with the 1st Regiment of Footguards. I won't comment on my first disastrous marriage that happened soon after. Serves me right for "marrying" a deceitful gypsy hussy! She broke my heart. After she ran away with that d-mn'd tinker, I gave myself over entirely to Fashion, spent a phenomenal amount of money on my wardrobe, and became a bit of a dandy, spending as much as £900 on winter clothes... You may well be astonished, for that was for dress-suits alone! I set the trend for satin-dress clothes amongst well-dressed men after wearing at Court the very first satin coat to ever make its appearance in the country. That suit alone cost me £180, but it was more than worth the expence.
Naturally, I speak French & Latin, and German fluently, and currently live in London. Some say I swear in common conversation more in an hour than a Chancery-Lane buffer in Court does in a term. To him I say: Blitz und Hölle! Sei verdammt!
However, I have a temper I cannot vouch for and before I was 21 had fought three duels, and pinked them all. You can best believe I was dressed up to the nines to fight each d-mne one of them! Even into my later years, I had a penchant for getting into brawls.
After getting bounced from the Regiment for duelling, and bitter at being passed up on a promotion, I purchased a Captaincy in the Hesse-Kassel Jäger Korps in 1776 and happily served with them in the Americas for a while. I am proud to have served throughout my career in the American War with my good friends Sir Henry and Lord Rawdon, and Lord Cornwallis, Major Patrick Ferguson, and in Lt-col Banastre Tarleton's British Legion. I do assure you, in the too-short time I was part of the Legion, Tarleton & I tore up the Colonies together! And we'd do it again tomorrow, were there a need!
Although I served with distinction, I did not achieve particularly much in the Americas. After leading an unsuccessful charge at Charlotte, North Carolina I was laid low with a very bad case of Yellow Fever, which claimed the lives of five of our dragoons in a month, and nearly claimed mine as well, reducing me to a skeleton and taking me out of the War, for the better part of a year. I do regret not being at the disappointing Battle of Cowpens. But by autumn I was recovered and returned to the Colonies and was part of Sir Henry Clinton's rescue mission at the Siege of Yorktown towards the end of the War, before being driven back to New York by the French fleet. Unable to return to England after the War in 1783, due to some previous mishandling of my estate, which occurred a few months after I arrived in the Americas, I stayed a year in Calais, where my gratitude of the generosity of some of my truest friends can never be adequately expressed!
When in 1787, Roderick M'Kenzie decided to publish his infamous "Strictures" against my friend Tarleton's "Campaigns", I decided to write An Address to the Army: in Reply to his Strictures in order to defend Tarleton's honour & reputation. By then I was already a boon companion to the Prince of Wales. To my great honour, I was appointed Equerry to His Royal Highness, in 1791.
But Fortune, it seemed, was determined not to remain long in my favour, and after more misfortune, soon I was dismissed from my position of Equerry, losing the majority of my income, and from 1798-1799, I became an inmate of King's Bench, a debtor's prison. Afterwards, I set up as a coal merchant for a while, doing honest, hard work for a living for once in my life. But that, too, was short-lived.
I saw action of course, as most did, against Napoleon in 1806 as Captain-commissary to the Royal Artillery Drivers, and in 1808 retired with full pay, which was an outrage to some but pleased me greatly!
Contrary to many documents stating so, I did not end my life a bachelor; rather late in life, I married my housekeeper, yes, my housekeeper!, Mary Ann Katherine Parsons (about 25 years my junior), and together we had a son: John Greenwood Hanger. As I refused my title, my boy never inherited it, and with my death ended that creation of the title, Lord Coleraine. --Not that I cared! Upon my death, my widow inherited everything, in accordance with my will.
You would greatly honour my memory if you would take a little time to read some of my written works, listed in the column to the left. I trust you'll find them both amusing and educational! Modern veterinarians still benefit from some of the advice I wrote on treating animals, contained within my book, Advice to All Sportsmen, and some of the remedies for humans are still useful to this day, as well. And, the defences I recommended be put in place around London were indeed enacted, although I was never credited for them.
That, ladies & gentlemen, is only partially my story! Valete et plaudite!
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