He joined the 17th Lancers in 1852 as a cornet and served as an aide-de-camp to Lord Cardigan. He was a survivor of the Charge of the Light Brigade. When he had reached the guns, his horse was killed under him and he was shortly after pulled off and taken prisoner, his sword and pistols being taken from him by some Russian Lancers. He managed to escape, catch another loose horse and ride back to the British lines, hotly pursued by Russians.[2]
He retired from the Army as a lieutenant in 1855, when he inherited his title and Newburgh Priory, the old seat of the Belasyses, in Coxwold, North Yorkshire, on the death of his father. Included in this estate was Over Silton Manor, where Wombwell's initials (GOW) can still be seen on one of the manor cottages, and High House, at Thornton-on-the-Hill.[3]
He married Lady Julia Sarah Alice Child-Villiers, daughter of George Child-Villiers, 6th Earl of Jersey and Julia Peel, on 3 September 1861. They had two sons, who both died on active service, and three daughters:[5]
Mabel Caroline Wombwell (b.1863) who married Henry Robert Hohler.
Cecilia Clementina Wombwell (b. 1864) who married William Menzies.
At his death he was the last surviving officer of the Charge of the Light Brigade and was buried in Coxwold churchyard. His title and 12,000 acre estate passed to his younger brother Henry Herbert Wombwell.
Coat of arms of George Orby Wombwell
Crest
A unicorn's head couped Argent.
Escutcheon
Gules a bend between six unicorns' heads couped Argent.
^Moseley, Brian (19 February 2011). "The Lords Saint Levan". The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History. Archived from the original on 29 April 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
^Burke's genealogical and heraldic history of the peerage, baronetage, and knightage, Privy Council, and order of preference. 1949.
Bibliography
Mosley, Charles (2004). Burke's Peerage and Baronetage of Great Britain and Ireland (106th ed.). London: Cassells.
Kidd, Charles (2014). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage. London: Macmillan.
Cokayne, George E; Doubleday, Henry A.; Gibbs, Vicary (1937–1949). The Complete Peerage and Baronetage of Great Britain and Ireland, extant, dormant and abeyant. London: St Catherine's Press.
