Sir Thomas George Fermor-Hesketh, 7th Baronet

Who was Sir Thomas George Fermor-Hesketh, 7th Baronet?

Sir Thomas George Fermor-Hesketh, 7th Baronet was a British baronet and soldier.

Born Thomas George Hesketh, he was the second son of Sir Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, 5th Baronet, and Lady Anna Maria Isabella Fermor, daughter of Thomas Fermor, 4th Earl of Pomfret. In 1867 he and his father assumed by Royal license the additional surname of Fermor and in 1876 he succeeded his elder brother as 7th Baronet of Rufford.

Fermor-Hesketh gained the rank of lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade and was also an honorary colonel in the service of the 4th Battalion, Liverpool Regiment of Militia. In January 1879 he started a world cruise in his newly constructed steam auxiliary yacht Lancashire Witch. After he left Madeira on route to Montevideo news arrived there of the British defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana in the Anglo-Zulu War. The news eventually caught up with him at Sandy Point in late March and he immediately set sail for Natal via the Falklands. He offered his services to the army and became ADC to Redvers Buller, becoming involved in mounted action at the Battle of Ulundi.