Lieutenant-Colonel Villiers Hatton
(1824-1897)
20 February 1861

[Identified as ‘Lieut. Col. Hatton’ in the Silvy daybooks, this is the army officer Villiers La Touche Hatton of Clonard in the county of Wexford.]

Born on 14 April 1824 at Frant in Sussex, he was the only son of Admiral Villiers Francis Hatton, who served under Nelson and lost his right arm during the Napoleonic Wars.

On 6 November 1850 Captain Villiers La Touche Hatton of the Grenadier Guards married Rosia Mary, the only daughter of Sir William de Barth, Bart. at St George’s, Hanover Square.

In 1871 the couple were living at Willesley Hall in Derbyshire. Their two daughters were present on the night of the census, as well as a governess and twelve servants, including a butler and two footmen.

Colonel Hatton died, aged 72, on 2 February 1897 at 25 Stanhope Gardens, Kensington. He left an estate valued at £14,550.

A short obituary appeared in The Globe (6 February 1897): ‘The death of Colonel Villiers La Touche Hatton, of Clonard, Co. Wexford, removes from the scene an old Grenadier Guardsman. Born close upon 72 years ago, he joined the 1st (Royal) Regiment, now the Royal Scots, in 1840, became lieutenant in 1843, and in 1848 became lieutenant and captain in the Grenadier Guards. He was promoted captain and lieutenant-colonel in 1855, and sold out in 1857. He leaves two sons: the eldest now commands the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, and the second is a major in the 2nd Battalion Seaforth Highlands; while his second daughter married Colonel W.H. Mackinnon, of the Grenadier Guards, the popular A.A.G. of the Home District.’

He was buried alongside his wife in Kensal Green Cemetery, London.