Frederic Lamb

Frederick James Lamb, 3rd Viscount Melbourne 

The Funerary Hatchment* of Frederick Lamb hangs on the North wall of the chancel. 

Frederick was the youngest son of Peniston Lamb, 1st Viscount Melbourne and Elizabeth Milbanke born in 1782. He was the younger brother of Prime Minister, William Lamb.

Frederick graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge and became a British Ambassador, first to Naples, then Bavaria, Madrid, Portugal and finally Vienna in 1840. 

Frederick Lamb, 3rd Viscount Melbourne

In Vienna he married Countess Alexandrine, daughter of Count Maltzahn, the Prussian Ambassador to Vienna, in 1841. She was 24 and he was 59.

He became a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath and a member of the Privy Council. In 1839 he became Baron Beauvale of Beauvale in Nottinghamshire and in 1848 became 3rd Viscount Melbourne on the death of his brother William. 

Frederick died in 1853 and the estates, including Melbourne Hall, passed to his younger sister, Emily Cowper (pronounced Cooper).

Alexandrine was grief stricken but did re-marry in 1856, dying in 1894 at the age of 77.

"Tri Juncta in uno" translates as "Three Joined in One". It is the motto of the Order of the Bath and probably refers to the 3 Kingdoms Joined together, England, Scotland and Ireland. It is written around Frederick's unusual oval heraldic shield and also the badge of the Order shown below the shields. Alexandrine's shield has 2 rabbits and a bunch of grapes between vine leaves. 

*A Funerary Hatchment is a large, diamond shaped, wooden or canvas frame, edged in black, showing the heraldic achievement of an important person. (The word hatchment is a corruption of word achievement.) On the frame will be the heraldic shield of the deceased, showing all their family connections and their motto. These became popular from the 16th to 19th centuries and would first be hung over the main door of the person’s hall or house, and then, after 12 months, moved to the church of burial.