KING GEORGE III (GREAT BRITAIN) - MILITARY APPOINTMENT SIGNED 07/20/1798 CO-SIGNED BY: PRIME MINISTER WILLIAM "PORTLAND" CAVENDISH-BENTINCK (GREAT BRITAIN) - HFSID 174899

KING GEORGE III of the UNITED KINGDOM and WILLIAM CAVENDISH-BENTINCK
1798 document appointing a captain to a company of militia in the county of Northampton, signed by George III and by Bentinck as Home Secretary
Military appointment signed "George R" as King of England and "Portland" by Bentinck as Home Secretary. 1 page, 7¾x12½, with one paper seal on left. "Our Court at Saint James's", July 20, 1798. This document appoints "Our Trusty and Welbeloved James Robinson Esqr." as a Captain in a company of militia infantry in a County of Northampton town (the town name is illegible). Robinson served without pay, but only in time of emergency. KING GEORGE III of the United Kingdom (1738-1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland until their union on January 1, 1802, after which was named the United Kingdom, and furthermore was Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg (part of the Holy Roman Empire), until his promotion as King of Hanover on October 12, 1814. He was the third British monarch from the House of Hanover, but unlike his Hanoverian predecessors, he was born in Britain, English was his first language, and he never visited Hanover. George's long tenure as King spanned many military conflicts in Europe and abroad in North America and India: early in his reign Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War which made Britain the dominant European power in North America and India, although many of their colonies were soon lost in the American Revolutionary War. Most notably, King George III led the country against revolutionary and Napoleonic France in 1793, concluding with Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. However, George III earned his nickname "Mad King George" when later in his life he suffered from recurrent and eventually permanent mental illness (now believed to have been cause by the blood disease porphyria), and in 1810, after a final relapse, a regency under his son Prince Regent George of Wales (future King George IV) was established. His reputation as a King has never been flattering, in the United States he is often viewed as a tyrant, and in Great Britain he is often used as a scapegoat for the failure of imperialism, but really King George was just a victim of circumstances and illness in an era when the monarchy was continuing to lose political power. WILLIAM CAVENDISH-BENTINCK (1738-1809), the 3rd Duke of Portland, served as the Prime Minister of Great Britain (1783, 1807-1809), Home Secretary (1794-1801) and Lord President of the Council (1801-1805). Lightly toned, soiled, stained and creased. Random ink stains. Folded thrice horizontally. Folds are toned. Otherwise in fine condition.