Richard Molesworth, 3rd Viscount Molesworth
Field Marshal Richard Molesworth, 3rd Viscount Molesworth, PC (Ire) FRS, styled The Honourable Richard Molesworth from 1716 to 1726, was an Anglo-Irish military officer, politician and nobleman. He served with his regiment at the Battle of Blenheim before being appointed aide-de-camp to the Duke of Marlborough during the War of the Spanish Succession. During the Battle of Ramillies Molesworth offered Marlborough his own horse after Marlborough fell from the saddle. Molesworth then recovered his commander's charger and slipped away: by these actions he saved Marlborough's life. Molesworth went on Lieutenant of the Ordnance in Ireland and was wounded at the Battle of Preston during the Jacobite rising of 1715 before becoming Master-General of the Ordnance in Ireland and then Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Irish Army.
Richard Molesworth, 3rd Viscount Molesworth
Entrance to Molesworth's town house 14 Henrietta Street, Dublin, August 2011
Field marshal (United Kingdom)
Field marshal (FM) has been the highest rank in the British Army since 1736. A five-star rank with NATO code OF-10, it is equivalent to an Admiral of the Fleet in the Royal Navy or a Marshal of the Royal Air Force in the Royal Air Force (RAF). A Field Marshal's insignia consists of two crossed batons surrounded by yellow leaves below the Tudor Crown. Like Marshals of the Royal Air Force and Admirals of the Fleet, Field Marshals traditionally remain officers for life, though on half-pay when not in an appointment or retired. The rank has been used sporadically throughout its history, and was vacant during parts of the 18th and 19th centuries. After the Second World War, it became standard practice to appoint the Chief of the Imperial General Staff to the rank on his last day in the post. Army officers occupying the post of Chief of the Defence Staff, the professional head of all the British Armed Forces, were usually promoted to the rank upon their appointment.
The Earl Roberts painted 1906 in the full dress uniform of a Field Marshal in the British Army
Field Marshal's uniform and baton (pertaining to the late Sir John Stanier) on display in the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Museum, Edinburgh Castle.
Image: 1st Earl Of Orkney
Image: John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll and Duke of Greenwich by William Aikman