George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle

George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, KG was an English soldier, politician and a key figure in effecting the Restoration of the Monarchy to King Charles II in 1660.

He was born onDecember 1608 at the family estate of Potheridge in the parish of Merton, near Great Torrington, Devon, the second son of Sir Thomas Monck MP for Camelford in 1626, a member of a Devon gentry family of ancient origin but thenstraitened financial circumstances. Sir Thomass wife and Georges mother was Elizabeth Smith, a daughter by his first marriage of Sir George Smith of Madworthy, near Exeter, Devon, a merchant who served as MP for Exeter in 1604, was three times Mayor of Exeter and the City of Exeters richest citizen being lord ofsurrounding manors. Elizabeths sister Grace Smith was the wife of Sir Bevil Grenville , of Bideford in Devon and Stowe, Kilkhampton in Cornwall, the Royalist soldier killed in action during the Civil War in heroic circumstances at the Battle of Lansdowne in 1643. Sir Bevils son and heir, and thus George Moncks first cousin, was John Grenville, 1st Earl of Bath , a fellow supporter of the Restoration, whose elevation to the peerage was

Source: Wikipedia