Arthur Osgood
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| Portrayed by Ed Stoppard | |
| Full Name | Arthur Peter Llewellyn Osgood |
|---|---|
| Title | Duke of Pevensey |
| Associated Noble House(s) | Dukedom of Pevensey, Marquessate of Brookwood, Earldom of Monmouth |
| Date of Birth | January 31st, 1768 |
| Father | David Osgood |
| Father's Rank | Duke |
| Mother | Josephine Osgood |
| Mother's Rank | Duchess |
| Town Residence | Park Street / St. James' Square |
| Income | £120,000 |
| School | Eton |
| University | Oxford, St. John's College |
| Year Attained Title | 1769 |
| Year of Marriage | 1787 |
| Spouse | Ava Werlington |
| Spouse's Rank | Gentry |
| Spouse's Death | 1800 |
| Issue | George Osgood, Harriet Osgood, Henry Osgood (paternity disputed), Felicity Osgood |
Arthur Osgood is the ninth Duke of Pevensey.
Arthur is played by Ellie
Family
- Grandmother: Eleanor Osgood, Dowager Duchess of Pevensey (1721)
- Father: David Osgood, Duke of Pevensey (1737-1769)
- Mother: Josephine Osgood, Duchess of Pevensey (1748-1769)
- Wife: Ava Osgood, nee Werlington (1768-1798)
- Son: George Emanuel Osgood, Marquess of Brookwood (1788)
- Daughter: Lady Harriet Nerys Osgood (1789)
- Son: Lord Henry Carwyn Osgood (1792)
- Carwyn is in fact the son of the Earl of Wyck
- Daughter: Lady Felicity Rhiannon Osgood (1794)
History
Arthur was the first child of the eighth Duke and Duchess of Pevensey and ascended to the title in 1769 at one year old after his parents perished in a fire. He was removed by his grandmother, the Dowager Duchess, and her second husband (the Earl of Branksea) to their home in Dorset, which was left to him upon the earl's death in 1790.
He attended Eton, then St. John's College, Oxford, and there was very little time for the young Pevensey to truly be considered a catch for he proposed to Miss Ava Werlington, a granddaughter of the Duke of Beaumont, in a whirlwind summer romance during the holidays of his second year of university. The pair married a year later, after the completion of his studies and Arthur officially left his grandparents' house to return to Sussex.A few months before the birth of their daughter he became deeply involved in politics and grew abruptly distant from his family as he became wrapped up in his work. He campaigned vocally alongside family friend Rawdon Montgomery III, the then Earl of Alderhan, for the total abolition of the slave trade and put his name to any number of proposals that might improve relations with the Americas, visiting once or twice with political delegations.
As he spent more and more time away from home, the young, sweet-tempered duchess was left alone, feeling rather as if she had been abandoned with two young children. She faltered only once, but once was all it took. Arthur has never asked Ava who the child’s father truly was, he has his suspicions and has never wanted them confirmed. The pair managed to hide the birth by a month or so, but as Carwyn has grown older it has become evident that he resembles neither Arthur, Ava, or their respective families. It was a difficult time for the couple, but it brought Arthur to his senses, helped him to reconsider his priorities, and the couple reconciled a little before the boy was born. It was six years later that Ava fell sick. The doctor called it 'a malady of the breast', and warned him there was nothing that could be done but to make her comfortable. Ava's family were less willing to heed that doctor's advice than Arthur was and pressed him to take her to a surgeon in London, who claimed to be able to perform all sorts of brilliant new-fangled procedures. Against his better judgement he agreed -- and Ava died alone, in agony, on an operating table with only the surgeon for company.
After her death he retreated from society, electing to move his family from their Sussex home in the grounds of Pevensey Castle to the Dorset island that his step-grandfather had left to him, where his mild-mannered (and now very forgetful) grandmother still resides. Arthur has never forgiven himself for not protecting his wife and so he has protected his children fiercely -- but perhaps to their detriment. Until his eldest son left for university, none of the four children had left Dorset since their move eight years previously. It was little wonder, then, that Emanuel felt the urge to get out and see the world. He had always had daydreams of joining the Navy, which had been impossible given his father's protective disposition and the fact of the future inheritance. Arthur has raised Carwyn as his own, and he has been afforded all the same love as his siblings, but there is talk enough that Arthur is hesitant even to allow him to attend university, let alone consider that perhaps he might inherit the Osgood title when he is certainly not one of them. No matter how much he has come to love the boy, Arthur reasons that Emanuel must inherit. They eventually reached an agreement - Emanuel would join William Lewis, an old friend of Arthur's who captains an Indiaman, for a year or two before returning to England to fulfil his familial obligations. It is a compromise and it is, Arthur rationalises to his son, better this way, as he may travel under William's watchful eye and remain out of trouble.
If only he'd known.
A vague but alarming letter from his son has brought him back to London, anticipating the return of The Hermes within the next fortnight. He agonised as to whether to leave the rest of his family on Branksea without him, or to keep them with him in a dangerous city, eventually deciding that he would feel more comfortable if they were with him and that, depending on what Emanuel has done, he might well be glad of their assistance.
