Dossier 1 - Letter from Benjamin Bloomfield concerning the Battle of New Ross

Benjamin Bloomfield was born on 13 April 1768, son of John Bloomfield, Lieutenant of the grenadiers and Miss Waller. In 1797 he married Harriet Douglas of Suffolk and they moved to Ireland soon after. They had one son, John Arthur Douglas Bloomfield, born in 1802, a daughter, Charlotte who died in 1828, and a daughter Georgiana, who later married Henry Trench of Cangort Park. His sister, Anne Bloomfield, married Thomas Ryder Pepper of Loughton House. When Pepper died in 1828, he left Loughton House to Lord Bloomfield.

He commanded a battery of artillery at Vinegar Hill during the 1798 Rebellion. During his long military career he held the following posts: G.C.B. and G.C.H., a Lieutenant-General in the army, Colonel- Commandant of the Royal Horse Artillery, Governor of Fort Charles, Jamaica, and a Privy Councillor. He held the distinguished and confidential offices of Clerk, Marshal, Private Secretary and Privy Purse to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, afterwards King George IV. He was nine years Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Sweden, and subsequently Commandant at Woolwich.

Lord Bloomfield died in Portman Square, Woolwich on 15 August 1846 and his remains were taken to Loughton House.