The Hon Geoffry Walter Harbord Squadron Sergeant Major

I thought he would have been an officer with this lineage

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Belfast News-Letter - Friday 13 July 1945

From The Peerage
Geoffrey Walter Harbord, 9th Baron Suffield was born on 12 November 1861. He was the son of Hon. William Harbord and Gertrude Hyde Dennis.
He married Eliza Jane Mills, daughter of John Mills, on 19 March 1902.1 He died on 23 May 1946 at age 84, without issue.1
He succeeded as the 9th Baron Suffield, of Suffield, co. Norfolk [G.B., 1786] on 23 June 1945. He succeeded as the 10th Baronet Harbord [G.B., 1746] on 23 June 1945.1

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Daily Mirror - Saturday 14 July 1945

Hi All,
Can't find any military records and not on either 1st KDGds or 17th Lcrs rolls, the 1891 census Address Gunton Pk married to Edith, he Rtd Army Officer and Civil Service, the 1939 list gives his address as 19 Alderwick Drive Hounslow he is a widow, His probate gives the same address dying 28 May 1946.
Rai Keynshamlighthorse.

Hi all

Geoffrey Walter Harbord was the 9th Baron, can not find military details.
George's father was Capt The Hon William Harbord.

The 10th Baron was his first cousin Admiral Richard Morden Harbord-Hamond 24th August 1865 - 2nd February 1951. Was a British Navy officer and Peer. Supposedly 1st cousin, first removed from Geoffrey.

Hi

But if Geoffrey Walter is The Hon 9th and only Baron, who is this?:

www.19thcenturyphotos.com

Hon Walter Harbord

Hon Walter Harbord was a major in the 7th Hussars in 1875 when he was caught cheating at cards in a casino in Nice. The men whom he was trying to cheat beat him up and he was thrown out by the servants.
The incident caused a huge international scandel, furnishing the foreign press with many column inches.
Needless to say, Harbord was expelled from the army and all his clubs. Amazingly, within a few months he had wed a wealthy widow who had taken pity on him and offered him her hand in marriage. Despite the fact that marriage to him would mean social ostracism for his wife, Harbord accepted the offer with alacity and on 5 May 1875, he married Lady Eleanor Fitzroy, daughter of the 7th Duke of Grafton.
The couple were forced to live abroad for many years, in discrace and under the ban of English and continental society.

Despite her kindness and generosity, Harbord took much frustration, bitterness and resentment out on his wife. According to the reports of their divorce in 1900, he treated her' not only with persistent neglect and great unkindness, but also with personal violence'. He was, Moreover, constantly in the company of demi-mondaines.
At the time of the divorce, Harbord was living-marriedly-in Jersey with a 19 year old farmers daughter called Ada-de-ste-Croix. At the time of the Census the following year, she was still in Jersey, now abandoned and working as a housemaid, and he was living in a two room dwelling in Portsmouth with a new wife less than half his age.

He died on 28th January 1913, at the age of 78. He left effects valued at £307.     Photographed by Camille Silvy of London.

This, as you can see is not Geoffrey Walter Harbord in the article above, who died 1946.
However, this person is a Hon Walter Harbord, living at the same time as Hon Geoffrey Walter Harbord, and he has a title. Where does he fit in?
Walter, here mentioned, was dishonourable discharged from the army.
There have been no military records found for Geoffrey Walter Harbord as far as I and rai can see. There probably will not be any found for Walter either, as he was thrown out of the army and records probably destroyed. The only mention of any of these two men in the military is Walter of card cheating fame.
Was he a relation or do we have an imposter ?

After all Miss Doris Harbord, sister to the late Lord Suffield, in the article above states: "I don't know where this man is" she commented "I have never seen him and he is a complete stranger to me.????

Even so, the Title was passed onto the Admiral in 1946, 10th Baron. It could be that Walter is Geoffrey's uncle, but I can't find a link as of yet.
Walter is buried in Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey.
Can't see Walter being an imposter as he was associating with and married into arristocracy.

Hi

I have the same as Kate.

The Peerage M#588638 b. 1861 d. 1946.
He was the son of Hon William Harbord and Gertrude Hyde Dennis.
He married Eliza Jane Mills daughter of John Mills on 19th March 1902, he died 23 May 1946 at age 84, without issue.

He succeeded as the 9th Baron Suffield, of Suffield, Co, Norfolk (G.B 1786) on 23 June 1945.

It seems he was never in the army. The author of the article has obviously got his wires crossed.

Now to find out who, if any, served in the Zulu war.

The following Harbord family members served in the forces.
Did any of the following serve in the Zulu wars?:

Captain William Harbord 1831-1900 serve as a Lieutenant in the Scots Guards and later Captain in the 90th regiment.

Captain Ralph Assheton Harbord 1859-1913 served in 1st volunteer battalion, Norfolk regiment.

Hon Assheton Edward Harbord 1861-1929 Captain and Hon Major 2n Brig, E Div, Artillery.

Hon Harbord Harbord 1836-1894 Hon Lt Col Norfolk Artillery Militia.

Hon Ralph Harbord b.1833, Captain 71st regiment.

5th Baron Suffield, Charles Harbord, Lieutenant in 1848, 7th Hussars, later Colonel 2nd Brig, E Div, Royal Artillery.

Eddie,

No-one appears on the Medal Roll using the surname Harbord.

Dod’s Peerage 1874 reveals an omission.

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You will note there is no-one there named Geoffry, or any variation of that forename.

The answer is the 8th Baron Lord Suffield died without issue, and his first cousin, once removed, inherited the title. He was the son of Captain William Harbord, formerly of the 90th (Perthshire Volunteers) Light Infantry. I can only conclude that he served under an alias, if he served at all.


JY

Cheers John