Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 7.djvu/205

 SPENCER. 203 I Nov. 1769, VISCOUNT ALTHORP, Co. Northampton, and EARL SPENCER.(«) High Steward of St. Albans, 17"?, and Mayor of that town, 1779. He m. 20 Deo. 1755,( b ) at Altliorp (rep. at Brington) Margaret Georgiana, 1st da. of the Rt. Hon. Stephen Povntz, of Midgham House, Berks, by Maria, 1st da. and coheir of Uen. the Hon. Lewis Mordaunt. He d. at Bath, after a long illness, 31 Oct., and was bur. 9 Nov. 1783, at Brington, in his 49th year. ( c ) Will pr. Dec. 1783. His widow, who was b. S May 1737, d. at St. Albans, 18, and was bur. 30 March 1814, at Brington, nged. 76.C) Will pr. 1814. II. 17S3. 2. George John (Spencer), Karl Spencer, &c, only s. and h., b. 1 Sep. and bap. 16 Oct. 17f)8, at Wimbledon, the King [George If.) being his Bponsor ; styled Viscount Althokp, 1765-83 ; ed. at Harrow and at Trio. Coll., Cambridge ; M.A., 1778 j was F.R.S., 6 April 1780 ; M.P. for Northampton, 17 SO-82, and for Surrey, 1782-83 ; was a Lord of the Treasury from March to.Iuly K32;.iKc(oMc/>tt-rajfr,asabove, 23 Oct. 1783 ; High Steward of St. Albans, 1783- 1807 ; Mayor thereof. 1790 ; Col. Northants Yeomanry, 1794 ; D.C.L. of Oxford, 3 July 1794 P.C., 1791 ; L. Pitivv Seat, for a few months in 1794( c ) ; sent on a spec, embassy to Vienna, 1794 ; First Lord of the Admiralty, 179 1-1801 ; el. and inv. K.G., 1 March 1789 and inst. 29 May 1801 J Sec. of State for Home, 1806-07. He was 30 years Chairman of the Northants Quarter Sessions; was also a Trustee of the Brit. Museum, 1791 ; a Gov. of Charter House, 1800, and Master of the Trinity House, 1806-07, and was well known in the literary world as a Book Collector,^ > being in 1812 President of the well-known Roxburgh Club (then first established) and in 1831 a Commisr. of the Public Records. He in. 6 March 1781 (spec, lie ) at her father's house, Charles street, Berkeley square, in St. Geo. Han. sq., Lavinia, 1st da. of Charles (Bingham), 1st Earl of Lucas [I ], by Margaret, da. of James Smith, of St. Audries, co. Somerset. She, who was b. 27 July 1 762, at Castlebar, co. Mayo. d. 8 June 1831, aged 68. Admon. Dec. 1840. He d. at Althorp Park, 10, and wag bur. 19 Nov. 1834, at Brington, aged 76. Will pr. 1834. III. 1834. 3. John Charles (Spencer), Earl Spencer, &c, 1st s. and h. ; b. 30 May 1782 in London, and bap. 7 July following at Wimbledon ; styled Viscount Ai.thoiii'E, 1783-1834 j ed. at Harrow and at Trin. Coll., Cambridge: M.A., 1S02; was M.P. for Oakhampton, 1802-06 ; for Northants (in 7 park..), 1S06-32, and for South Northants, 1832-34 ; a Lord of the Treasury, 1806-07; ( a ) See vol. ii, p. 102, note " a," sub " Cadogan," for this class of peerage. ( b ) The marriage was performed privately in Lady Cowper's dressing-room at Althorp, and was not declared till the Saturday following. [Mrs. Delany's" Memoirs," vol. iii, p. 399.] ( c ) " Humanity and benevolence " must have been at a great premium in those days, for his political services of four years could hardly have merited a triple peerage. See Baker's "Northamptonshire" (I, 108), where is qnoted (it does not appear from whence) " he possessed the virtues of humanity and benevolence in a degree so eminent," &c., but of his deeds, save as above (tho', indeed, says Collins, he was "one of the Vice Presidents of the British Lying-in Hospital") nothing whatever (beyond that Vice-Presidentship) is said and nothing apparently is known. A portrait of him " after J. S. Copley " is engraved in " Doyle." '» ) " Few females of her time displayed more grace and dignity ... or were more distinguished for benevolence and piety." [Ann. Reg., 1814.] ( e ) He was one of the whigs who joined Pitt's administration at the end of 1794, and his condvict ot the naval office, during the eventful time of many naval victories, and of the outbreak of the mutiny at the Nore, was highly creditable. (0 He is said to have collected " the finest private library in Europe, the history of which is developed by Dr. Dibdin in tho j£des Althorpianee, and some of its most important contents described in the Bibliotheca Spenceriana." [Ann Reg., 1834]. It was, however, sold by his grandson, the 5th Earl, about 1S90. ( g ) Mrs. Delany (Letters. I., p. 507) writes of him in 1780 as " never handsome, but always agreeable and a fine young man," while the " Gent. Mag." of 1834, calls him ' Tall and athletic if not robust ; his demeanour was particularly his own — calm, gentle, dignified, brit not unbending." A portrait of him, "after T. Phillips," is graved in " Doyle."