Charles Cadogan, 2nd Baron Cadogan


General Charles Cadogan, 2nd Baron Cadogan was an Anglo-Irish peer, soldier and Whig politician.

Family

Cadogan was the younger son of Henry Cadogan and his wife, Bridget, the second daughter of the regicide Sir Hardress Waller. He inherited his title in 1726 on the death without male issue of his elder brother William Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan, whose titles, other than 1st Baron Cadogan, became extinct.
He married the heiress Elizabeth Sloane, daughter of Sir Hans Sloane, Bt. and Elizabeth Langley Rose, on 25 July 1717 at the Church of St George the Martyr, Queen Square, London. They had one son, Charles Sloane Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan. The marriage transferred the Sloane estate in suburban Chelsea to the Cadogan family, which has been the basis of the family wealth ever since. Cadogan became Lord of the Manor of Chelsea.

Military career

He joined the Army, serving during the War of the Spanish Succession where he saw action at the Battles of Oudenarde and Malplaquet. His career benefited from his brother's close connection to the Army's Captain General the Duke of Marlborough. He rose, by 1715, to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Coldstream Guards. He was promoted Brigadier-General in 1735, Major-General in 1739, Lieutenant-General in 1745 and full General in 1761.
He was given the Colonelcy of the 4th Foot in 1719, transferring in 1734 to be Colonel of the 6th Dragoons until 1742, when he transferred a second time to be Colonel of the 2nd Troop of Horse Guards, a position he then held until his death.
He was Governor of Sheerness between 1749 and 1752 and Governor of Gravesend and Tilbury Fort between 1752 and 1776.
He was returned as Member of Parliament for Reading in 1716 and Member of Parliament for Newport, Isle of Wight in 1722.
He died in 1776, the senior general in the Army.