Name: Colonel the Lord Jason Bestwick (Retired)

Age: 37

Character Description: A tall slender man of military bearing, dark of hair, which he keeps short apart for the mutton chop sideburns he wears. By choice keeps his face clean of all other facial hair.
  Lord Jason's face is square jawed yet slender, a handsome face, marred somewhat by a faint scar running for five or six inches above the right eye. His eyes are grey, steely grey, yet he often smiles and seems a man of good humour.
  He is a sober dresser, typically wearing black, grey or dun colours, in keeping with his military background. He will however always dress elegantly. He seems to be a man in good health, but does have a pronounced limp and habitually carries a walking cane to aid in his locomotions.

Skills/Accomplishments: Lord Jason is a good judge of character, a skill possibly acquired during his military service. Prior to entering military service Jason had studied Classics at Cambridge and has a vast appetitive for all things historical.
Flaws/Shortcomings: Lord Jason periodically suffers acute aches and pains from his wounds, over time he has developed a taste for opiates, but for the most part manages this effectively with occasional relapses. A pretty face is a constant danger for Lord Jason, and a constant source of self-directed anger at his weakness.

Background:
The heir to the title of Baron Bestwick. Lord Jason's father is a hale and hearty man some thirty years Jason’s senior, so Lord Jason currently has no expectation of inheriting the title just yet, nor does he have any real desire to do so.

The family lands are in Kent. Lord Jason's family are land wealthy but cash poor. However, due to Kent's location Lord Jason was always a frequent visitor to London with his family. Although he spent much of his youth being educated at Harrow.

Upon leaving Harrow, Lord Jason went up to Cambridge University reading Classics, which was contrary to his father's wishes since Baron Bestwick had originally wanted Jason to study Law, and thenceforth to enter parliament, and the Upper House once he had inherited the title in his own right. Lord Jason has no such desire however.

Two years into his studies Lord Jason found himself in an embarrassing predicament. Having courted a pretty young local girl of low birth and spent much time in dalliance and cavorting with her, he had stupidly succeeded in getting her with child. Jason's father upon learning of Jason's behaviour had been apoplectic.

In order to avoid scandal Baron Bestwick had convinced the girl’s family to take financial recompense in exchange for their silence on the matter. Jason meanwhile received an ultimatum from his father - take a commission in the Buffs (The Royal East Kent Regiment), or be cut off and disowned in favour of Jason’s younger brother Nathaniel.

After much soul-searching Jason had taken the commission. He found military life tiresome and uncomfortable but within a year his regiment were sent to quell the rebellious Irish. It was a short campaign, yet it was also Lord Jason’s first real taste of battle. He performed well and was instrumental in aiding the defeat of the French expeditionary force which had come to the Irish rebel’s aid. For this he was promoted to Captain.

Over the next fifteen years he saw many campaigns, and promotion through to the rank of colonel and command of the regiment.

Lord Jason and his regiment were finally called upon to fight in the New World, and it was here that Jason was marred, at Sackets Harbour. Lord Jason almost died there; he was commanding an amphibious force attacking the American position at the harbour, and although the attack went well Jason was nearby the blast of an explosive canister round. The resulting wounds almost cost him his leg and his life. He lived, but the blast left him scarred about the face and right side of his body.
Due to his wounds Jason was returned to England, over many months he recovered well enough to walk with the aid of a stick, but not well enough to return to active duty.

Discharged, Lord Jason found himself at a loss. He was now a man used to command and danger, and despite his family a man of limited means (according to the estimation of the prosperous and privileged aristocracy), a state of affairs which would exist at least until he inherited the family title.
Finding lodgings in London, at first he spent his time drowning his sorrows in alcohol, and in the charming company of many young woman of shall we say, dubious morals? He was also plagued by the legacy of his wounds, his leg was often stiff and painful, as were the wounds in his right arm and chest. In combating this he acquired a dangerous taste for opium.

Had he continued thus, in what he now considers a brattish funk, it is possible that Lord Jason may have succumbed to the twin perils of alcohol and opiate addiction.  After a little over a year of such behaviour Lord Jason met Lady Clara Ferguson, a young, beautiful and extraordinarily intelligent woman of a colossal will. Lord Jason was smitten. It was she who led him out of his malaise. If fate had not stepped in his way Lord Jason might have sought Lady Clara’s hand, but such was not to be. For Clara was affianced and being the dutiful daughter that she was Clara soon married her fiancé and thus become Viscountess Fry, wife of Lord David Fry, Viscount Fry no less.

Jason might have retreated into an opium fuelled coma, had Lady Clara not forced him to swear to her that he would live a full life and seek for true happiness. Lord Jason loved Clara dearly and so swore.

Since that day he has spent his time in London, dividing his time between dabbing in his historical studies, on a private basis, and in seeking for release from his sense of loss. Loss of profession, loss of health and the loss of Lady Clara his one true love.

Jason has had occasionally lapses, binges if you will into his previous excesses. For now, he is happy to exist, but in truth he is a man without a compass and no means of acquiring the one thing he truly desires in life, for he knows that Lady Clara is too honourable and decent to ever betray her husband.