Charles Yorke , 4th Earl of Hardwicke Admiral Charles Philip Yorke , 4th Earl of Hardwicke PC ( 2 April 1799 – 17 September 1873 ) , was a British naval commander and Conservative politician . Background . Born at Sydney Lodge , in Hamble le Rice , Hardwicke was the eldest son of Admiral Sir Joseph Sydney Yorke , second son of Charles Yorke , Lord Chancellor , by his second wife , Agneta Johnson . He was a nephew of Philip Yorke , 3rd Earl of Hardwicke . He was educated at Harrow and at the Royal Naval College , where he was awarded the second medal . Naval career . Hardwicke entered the Royal Navy in May 1815 as midshipman on , the flagship at Spithead . Later , he served in the Mediterranean , on ( 18 ) and ( 74 ) then subsequently ( 100 ) , the flagship of Lord Exmouth , by whom he was entrusted with the command of a gunboat at the bombardment of Algiers . He later joined ( 60 ) under the flag of Sir David Milne , on the North American station , where he was given the command of the " Jane " , a small vessel carrying dispatches between Halifax and Bermuda . He was then appointed acting Lieutenant of ( 18 ) and after a few months commissioned in the rank of Lieutenant in August 1819 . The next October , he joined the frigate on the Halifax station , until appointed to the command of in 1823 on the Mediterranean station , in this post he was employed , before and after he obtained the rank of Captain in 1825 , in watching the movements of the Turko - Egyptian forces and in the suppression of piracy . Between 1828 and 1831 , he took command of ( 28 ) , on the same station and took an active part in the naval operation in connection with the struggle between Greece and Turkey . Lastly between 1844 and 1845 , for short periods , he assumed command of the steam yacht HMS " Black Eagle " and ( 120 ) , in which he carried the then Emperor of Russia , Nicholas I , to England . He attained flag rank in 1838 . In 1849 while commanding he participated in the repression of the republican Rebellion of Genoa in support of the forces of the Kingdom of Sardinia . The " Vengeance " also fired on the Hospital of Pammatone , causing 107 civilian casualties . For these actions he was decorated by the Sardinian King Victor Emmanuel II with two medals he was authorized to accept by Queen Victoria only in 1855 . In 1858 he retired from the active list with the rank of rear - admiral , becoming vice - admiral in the same year , and admiral in 1863 and retired from the Royal Navy in 1870 . Political career . Hardwicke represented Reigate in the House of Commons between 1831 and 1832 and Cambridgeshire between 1832 and 1834 . In 1834 , on the death of his uncle , he became the fourth Earl of Hardwicke , and inherited the substantial Wimpole estate in Cambridgeshire . He was a member of Lord Derby ' s cabinet in 1852 as Postmaster General and as Lord Privy Seal between 1858 and 1859 . In 1852 he was sworn of the Privy Council . Family . Lord Hardwicke married the Honourable Susan Liddell , sixth daughter of Thomas Liddell , 1st Baron Ravensworth , in August 1833 . They had five sons and three daughters . He died in September 1873 , aged 74 , and was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest son , Charles . The Countess of Hardwicke died in November 1886 . He also supposedly fathered an illegitimate child by one Charlotte Pratt , a serving girl at his Wimpole Hall home . Charlotte got married in 1849 , and the following was noted in the marriage register : " The year before this marriage , 18 - year - old servant girl Charlotte gave birth to a son , James Pratt , who was baptised on 2 April 1848 . The father was understood to have been her employer , the 4th Earl of Hardwicke . " Charlotte . . . was a Pratt ; and she was a picture . The handsomest woman that I ever remember to have seen . In harvest time to see her swinging along the road with a bundle of corn balanced on her head , both arms akimbo , was a study in colour , figure and poise " . - A . C . Yorke "