George Hanger , 4th Baron Coleraine George Hanger , 4th Baron Coleraine ( 13 October 1751 – 31 March 1824 ) was a British soldier , author , and eccentric . Biography . Hanger was born into a prosperous family in Gloucestershire , the third son in a family of seven children . His father was Gabriel Hanger , a member of parliament who in 1762 was created Baron Coleraine in the Peerage of Ireland . As a younger son , Hanger ' s education was geared towards his entering the army . He was sent to Reading School and then Eton before going to the University of Göttingen . After joining the Prussian Army of Frederick the Great , he returned to England and in 1771 purchased an Ensigncy in the 1st Regiment of Footguards . About this time , he married his first wife , a gypsy who soon ran off with a tinker . In the army Hanger gained the reputation of being a womaniser to the detriment of his military duties . In 1776 he purchased a lieutenant cy , but he retired in disgust after a more junior officer purchased promotion over him . He then purchased a captain cy in the Hessian " Jägers " and served throughout the American Revolutionary War , transferring to Sir Banastre Tarleton ' s British Legion as a major and as commander of its light dragoons . In the Battle of Charlotte of 1780 , Hanger commanded the legion due to Tarleton ' s illness , ordering it to ride into Charlotte , North Carolina without taking precautions to guard against surprise attacks . As a consequence , the legion ' s cavalry was badly mauled by Patriot militia that had set up an ambush in the town centre . Hanger was wounded in the battle , which he termed a " trifling insignificant skirmish " . He shortly thereafter fell ill , probably with yellow fever , and was shipped to the Bahamas to recuperate . He also became involved in a minor literary feud , in 1789 , publishing " An Address to the Army ; In Reply To ' Strictures ' , by Roderick M ' Kenzie ( Late Lieutenant in the 71st Regiment ) On Tarleton ' s History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781 " . The full title of M ' Kenzie ' s book was " Strictures on Colonel Banaster Tarleton ' s History of the Southern Campaigns of 1780 and 1781 " and was itself critical of Tarleton ' s 1787 account of the southern campaigns called " A History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781 in the Southern Provinces of North America " . Discussion of this apparently continues to this day . After returning to England , he became a companion of the Prince Regent ( later King George IV ) . They became great friends , the prince apparently admiring Hanger ' s sense of humour and his exploits , both military and with women , and appointing him Equerry in 1791 . The only surviving painting of Hanger comes from this period . Commissioned by the Prince , it remains in the Royal Collection . Hanger was also the butt of caricaturists and many prints of him survive . The National Portrait Gallery in London has a collection of twenty prints by James Gillray satirising him . In 1795 he purchased the Lieutenant - Colonelcy of the 125th Foot , and six months later he exchanged his commission into one of the same rank in the 1st Battalion the 82nd Foot . In need of money , in 1796 Hanger sold his lieutenant - colonelcy and purchased an ensigncy in the 70th Foot . In 1806 he was appointed captain - commissary in the Royal Artillery . He declined a seat in the House of Commons , even though his father and two of his brothers had sat there , and in 1814 he refused to take his seat in the Irish House of Lords when he succeeded to the family title . He died in London in 1824 , at the age of 74 , when his Irish peerage became extinct .