Early Life and Military Career
William Cosby was born in Stradbally Hall, Queen's County, Ireland, in 1690. His father, Alexander Cosby of Stradbally, stemmed from an aristocratic British family that settled in Ireland in 1590, by the first Alexander Cosby. His mother, Elizabeth L'Estrange, was Irish.
In 1709, 19-year-old William Cosby travelled to Italy and earned money by gambling in card games. The next year he enlisted in the British Army at Spain, under General Stanhope's command. In successive years, his military career progressed: cornet of the 5th Dragoon Guards (24 August 1705), captain of the 2nd Dragoon Guards, Harvey's Regiment of Horse (15 April 1711), colonel of the 18th Irish Regiment (24 December 1717).
In 1711, Cosby married Grace Montagu, a British lady with connections at Buckingham Palace, as sister of George Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax. They had children: William (1713), Grace (1716), Elizabeth (1721), Grace (1723) and Henry (1719). All of them were born in Britain, mostly at Westminster, London. Both sons followed careers in the military afterward. A third son, Alexander, born 1717, is not recorded as a son of William in contemporary documents, but was a son of Grace.
Cosby had a home in Soho Square and one in St. Leonard's Hill (the old name for the town of Windsor).
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