Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 44.djvu/402

Percy 5 Feb. 1718 (ib. i. 76, 116, 469;, ii. 353; , ii. 388, 407).

Northumberland's second wife was Lady Elizabeth Howard, second daughter of Theophilus, second earl of Suffolk. The marriage took place on 1 Oct. 1642. She died on 11 March 1705. By this marriage the great house built by Henry Howard, earl of Northampton, came into Northumberland's possession, and was henceforth known as Northumberland House. It was demolished in 1874 to make room for Northumberland Avenue (, London Past and Present, ii. 603). By his second countess Earl Algernon had issue: (1) Josceline, eleventh earl of Northumberland, born on 4 July 1644, married, on 23 Dec. 1662, Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Thomas Wriothesley, earl of Southampton, and died on 21 May 1670, having had issue a son, Henry Percy, who died on 18 Dec. 1669, and a daughter, Elizabeth Percy, born on 26 Jan. 1667, afterwards Duchess of Somerset; (2) Lady Mary Percy, born on 22 July 1647, died on 3 July 1652.

A portrait of Northumberland and his countess by Vandyck was No. 719 in the National Portrait Exhibition of 1866; it is in the possession of the Marquis of Salisbury. Another by the same painter, the property of the Earl of Essex, was No. 760. The latter was No. 57 in the Vandyck exhibition of 1887. Lists of engraved portraits are in Granger's ‘Biographical History,’ and in the catalogue of the portraits in the Sutherland copy of Clarendon's ‘History,’ in the Bodleian Library. They include engravings by Glover, Hollar, Houbraken, Payne, and Stent ({sc|Bromley}}).

[A life of Algernon, earl of Northumberland, based mainly on the family papers, is contained in De Fonblanque's House of Percy, vol. ii. The papers themselves are calendared Hist. MSS. Comm. 3rd Rep. A life is also given in Lodge's Portraits; Doyle's Official Baronage, ii. 663; Collins's Peerage, ed. Brydges, vol. ii.; Collins's Sydney Papers; other authorities cited in the article.]  PERCY, ALGERNON, fourth (1792–1865), second son of Hugh Percy, second duke [q. v.], by his second wife, Frances Julia, daughter of Peter Burrell, esq., of Beckenham, Kent, was born at Syon House 15 Dec. 1792. He entered the navy in boyhood (3 May 1805) as a volunteer on board the Tribune frigate, served as midshipman in the Fame and Caledonia in the Mediterranean, receiving the commendation of Lord Collingwood (, Life, ii. 155), became lieutenant on 16 Dec. 1811, and was present at the partial action off Toulon and at the capture of Genoa. He obtained his step as commander 8 March 1814, on board the Scout, and was acting captain of the Caledonia, the flagship of Lord Exmouth, and afterwards of the Cossack in 1814, receiving his post rank on the Driver 19 Aug. 1815. At the general peace he went on half-pay, and was never afterwards employed on active service, but attained his ranks on the reserved list as rear-admiral 1850, vice-admiral 1857, admiral 1862. In 1816 Percy was created a peer, with the title of Baron Prudhoe, which became well known in the East, where he travelled for several years in company with Major Felix. In 1826 he was among the select band of early explorers who were then engaged in studying the monuments of Egypt, and the collections in Alnwick Castle testify to the interest he never ceased to take in Egyptian antiquities (, Catalogue, 1880, which describes over two thousand Egyptian objects). His scientific tastes led him to support and accompany Sir John Herschel's expedition to the Cape in 1834, for the purpose of observing the southern constellations [see, and procured him the honorary degree of D.C.L. at Oxford in 1841. His love of learning prompted him to bear the expense of the preparation and printing of the gigantic ‘Arabic Lexicon’ of Edward William Lane [q. v.], for whom, when they first met at Cairo in 1826, he had conceived a warm friendship and admiration. In 1842 he proposed that, at his cost, Lane should revisit Egypt and collect materials for this monumental work, and from that time forward, for twenty-three years, ‘with a kindness and delicacy not to be surpassed’ (, Lexicon, Pref. p. ii), he bore all the expenses, which became very heavy when the printing began in 1861. The first volume was published in 1863, and was dedicated to him as ‘the originator of this work, and its constant and main supporter;’ and though death prevented his further participation, his ‘princely patronage’ was carried on in the same spirit by his widow, the Lady Eleanor Grosvenor, sister of Hugh Lupus, third marquis and first duke of Westminster, whom he married 25 Aug. 1842. This great work extends to over nine thousand columns, in imperial 4to.

The initiation and support of the ‘Arabic Lexicon’ belong to a series of munificent acts dictated by a love of learning and a keen sense of public duty. On 11 Feb. 1847 Lord Prudhoe succeeded his brother Hugh as fourth Duke of Northumberland, and thenceforward,