Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 7.djvu/207

 SPENCER. 205 for South NorthantB, for some months in 1S57, L-utsuc. to the peerage, ns above, 27 Dec. 1857: P.O., 1859; Groom of the Stole to the Prince Consort, 1859-61, and to the Prince of Wales,1862-66 ; cr. D.C.L. of Oxford, 16 June 1803, and LL D. of Cambridge, 3 June 1S6J; KG, 14 Jan. 1865. Viceroy of Ireland (as L. Lieut.), 186S- 74, and again, 1882-85. L. lieut. of Northanta, 1872 ; L. President of the Council, 1SS0-83 ; cr. LL.D of Dublin, 30 Jutie 1S83 ; First Lord of the Admiralty, 1892; Chancellor of Victoria Univ., Manchester, lS92.( a ) He m. 8 July 1858, at St. James, Westm., Charlotte Frances Frederica, 4th da. of Frederick Charles William Seymour (grandson of the 1st Marquess of Hertford), by Augusta, da. of Frederick William (IIervey), 1st Marquess of Bristol. She was 6. 28 Sep. 1835, and was V.A. (3d class) 1892. Family Estates. — These, in 1883. consisted of 16,000 acre3 in Northamptonshire; 3,392 in Warwickshire; 3,017 in Herts; 2.533 in Norfolk; 771 in Bucks; 670 in Leicestershire ; and 2 in Surrey. Total, 27,185 acres, worth ,£-16,764 a year. Principal Scat.— Althorp Park, co. Northampton. SPENCER OF Y 0 R M LEIG H TO N. Barony J. Sir Rorert Spencer, of Wortnleijihton, co. Warwick, I 1 G03 Althorp, in Brington, co. Northampton, only s. and h. of Sir John Sl'KNCER, of the saine( b ), by Mary da. and h of Sir Hobert CaTLIR, Ch. Justice of the Queen's Bench (1559-74), sac. his father in the family estates, 9 Jan. 1599, being then aged 29 ; Sheriff of Northants, 1601, being then a Knight. He was " reputed to have by him the moot nionev of any person in the Kiwriom,"(<>)and wascr. 21 July 1603,i a ) B A KON SPENCER OF WORMLEIGHTON, co. Warwick. He was sent on a spec. mission( c ) with the Garter to Frederick, Duke of Wiirteinberg, who was invested therewith at Stuttgart, 6 Nov. 1603, with great ceremony. He hi. 15 Feb. 1587, at Brington, Margaret, da. and coheir^ 1 ) of Sir Francis WnXODOBBT, of Wollaton, Notts, by his second wife, Elizabeth, da. of Sir John Lytteltox, of Fraukley. She d. 17 Aug. and was liar. 19 Oct. 1597, at Brington. He d. (30 years later) 25 Oct. and was bur. 6 Nov. 1627, at Brington, M.I. Jnq. p. mort., 1628. Will pr. 1627(B) II. 1627. ~. William (Spencer), Baron Spencer op Worm- lbighton, 2d but 1st snrv. s. and h.(c) ; bap. 4 Jan. 1591/2, at Brington ; mat. at Oxford (Mag. Coll.) 26 Oct. 1607, aged 15 ; K.B. at the creation of Charles, Prince of Wales, 4 Nov. 1616 ; M.P. for Northants in 5 pails., 1620-25. and a steady (") To the general surprise he was one of the few Peers, who supported Gladstone's proposals for granting Hume Rule to Ireland, aud, from his experience of that country aud its Politicians his adhesion carried considerable weight. ( h ) Both these estates had been purchased (one in 1506 and the other in 1508), by Ilia great-grandfather, Sir John Spencer, of Snittertield, co. Warwick, formerly, apparently, a wealthy grazier, who d. 14 April 1522, and who was the founder of this family. Aa to their allegorical descent from the old house of Le Despencer, see Cull. Top. et Gen.," vol. v, p. 6, note " f." ( c ) Lloyd's " Loyalists; p. -132, as quoted in Collins," vol. i, p. 3S9. C) See vol. iii, p. 113, note " c," sub "Devonshire" cr. 21 July 1603, for a list of the peerages conferred on that day. (°) See vol. ii, p. 192, ucte "a," sub "Cathcart," for an account of these spec, missions with the Garter. 0 Her eldest sister, Bridget, m. Sir Pereival Willoughby (of a more illustrious and entirely distinct family from their own), and was mother of Francis Willoughby, who inherited, thro' her, the estates of Wollaton and Middleton, being grandfather of Thomas, 1st Baron Middleton. ( e ) His character (" vigilant to keep the people's liberties from being a prey to the encroaching power of monarchy ") is given in Brydges's " Peers o f James /." His most noteworthy action was the reply he made to the Karl of Arundel's allusion to a time when his [Spacer's] ancestors were keeping sheep . . . "If they kept sheep, yours were then plotting of treason." [Lloyd's " Worthies."] ( h ) John Spencer, the 1st s., mat. at Oxford (Mag Coll.) with bis br., William, 26 Oct. 1607, aged 16. He d. v.p. and unm. at Blois, iu France, 16 Aug. 1610, "of a Doming ague." [Letter, 2i Aug. 1U10J, aged 19, aud ivas bur. id Woraileightoo,