This is what my book says about it, as well as the sources
“eventually wrote over forty plays, as well as poetry, three novels, and several books of recollections. He was married with two daughters and four sons. In her diary in 1777, Mrs. Thrale, the friend of Samuel Johnson, wrote of Richard Cumberland, “I have a notion, Dieu me pardonne [God forgive me] that Cumberland is a-..." She continued, "Effeminacy is an odious quality in a He creature, and when joined with low jealousy, actually detestable." Long after the war for America, she was still writing that something whispered in her heart that "Cumberland did like the Masculine gender best." In 1780, Germain sent Cumberland on an important diplomatic mission to try to negotiate peace with Spain. After the Revolutionary War, they became neighbors, and Cumberland wrote an affectionate personal memoir in which he called Germain "one of the very best companions of the age, though he had neither the advantages of literature, the brilliance of wit, nor any superior pretensions to a fine taste in the elegant arts." Benjamin Thompson was unique among American loyalists in gaining high office in Britain and later in the Holy Roman Empire. He was even knighted, which caused the marquess of Wellesley to dub him "Sir Sodom Thompson, Lord Sackville's under Secretary."—”
Well, aside from him sounding hella bi already, I found that our dear Germain, more importantly known as, Lord George Germain, who became Viscount Sackville, has some other cases of homosexuality as well.
Some background for those who haven't read the book, and aren't sure who we are researching, Germain was a British Secretary of State during the American Revolution. Though he gained wide noteriety when court marshalled for cowardice while a British general serving under Prince Ferdinand at the Battle of Minden in Germany during the Seven Years War. Born in 1716 into an illustrious family, he became a member of Parliament in 1741, a major general in 1755, and commander in chief of British forces in Germany, under the authority of German Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick. But in 1759 Sackville was court-martialed for refusing to obey Ferdinand’s command to advance at a crucial moment in the battle of Minden. Public opinion declared him a coward, and the court sentenced him to political disgrace and military exile: “Lord George Sackville is, and he is hereby adjudged, unfit to serve his Majesty in any military capacity whatever.” Sackville, though, retained his seat in Parliament and in 1769 changed his name and gained a fortune in the process. One of his admirers, the widowed Lady Betty Germain, willed her estate to him on the condition he take her last name, and Lord George Germain he became.
And boy does he have some interesting cases of highly possible homosexuality.
Interestingly, modern biographer, Piers Mackesy, comments on Sackville's sexuality as such reads;
“I have dwelt on Sackville's homosexual reputation in the belief that it was his Achilles' heel. It may help to explain the strangely hostile reaction which he aroused in many people - a hostility which seems to go beyond what his reserve and arrogance could account for in themselves. It may explain his difficulty in forming happy working relationships with some of his colleagues, and the recurring hints of instability which flit through his life. It may shed some light on the web of passions in which the Minden affair is tangled.”
More interestingly, besides his relationships with Cumberland and Thompson, claims of Germain being homosexual, or at least committing such acts, were quite common.
More rumors of Germain's homosexuality spurred, one of the relations between Lord George, George Stone, whom was the Primate of Ireland, and a young army officer from Scotland called Robert Cunningham, whom Lord George had installed as aide-de-camp to the Primate. Horace Walpole reported that Lord George ‘is supposed to have a seraglio, which is not at all in the style of a country that is famous for furnishing rich widows with second husbands. His friend the Primate ... is accused of other cardinalesque dispositions too ... Epigrams, ballads, pasquinades swarm. May I send you a very gross one that came to the Primate's hand... as he was at dinner at the Castle: “Religion is now become a mere farce/ Since the head of the Church is in Cunningham's arse.”
Another case is of him calling a soldier he met in Ireland a “beautiful warrior” according to biographer Stanley Weintraub, in his book, Iron Tears: America's Battle for Freedom, Britain's Quagmire: 1775-1783;
“The marriage may have also been cover, although the first of his five children was born within two years of the wedding, and Lord George remained a devoted husband. Gossips suggested on occasion that he was a covert homosexual—the reason for his late marriage and his circle of loyal young male associates. Sodomy was a capital crime, and a scurrilous pamphlet published soon after his court-martial claimed that his promotion of a "beautiful warrior" he had met on duty in Ireland had a dark side. Such unproved malice was another burden he would continue to endure, as there seemed always someone of the wrong sort—at the least a young social inferior—in his entourage.”
Soonly after the Revolution started to ignite, King George III had appointed Germain Secretary of State for the American Colonies. (Back then, the British government actually had three secretaries of state; one for northern Europe, one for South, and another for East, while one for West.) The choice wasn't appreciated by many officers, as Germain had earned himself the title of a coward. But more over, in 1776 William Jackson wrote a slandering poem, Sodom and Onan, under the pen name, Humphrey Nettle, attacking King George III for appointing Germain despite his bad name. Accusing the King of agreeing “to pardon Sodomites and damn the Nation. / Sackville, both Coward and Catamite, commands / Department honourable, and kisses hands / With lips that oft in blandishment obscene / Hath been employed.”
So yeah, Germain didn't help his case when he appointed two other supposed homosexuals, Richard Cumberland, and Benjamin Thompson, during his career to key positions. Notably, apparently Thompson and Germain also shared every meal together, and was considered a "great favorite" of Germain's. But in letters Thompson claims Germain to being a fatherly figure to him instead.
And also, after Germain died in 1785, Richard Cumberland wrote a book called The Character of the Late Viscount Sackville to try and defend his character but without much of any success success.
In my honest opinion, I think he was bisexual, with a couple of relationships with men, but a happy marriage with his wife. Hope this helped!
