Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton

Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton

Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton KG PC (* 1. October 1735 ; † 14. March 1811 in Euston Hall , Suffolk ) was a British politician of the Whig Party , Unitarian and one of many Dukes, as Prime Minister served .

Life

His parents were Augustus FitzRoy and Elizabeth Cosby, daughter of Colonel William Cosby, who was governor of New York Colony . He was educated at Westminster School , did the Grand Tour and graduated from Peterhouse , Cambridge . In 1756 he married Anne Liddell, daughter of Henry Liddell, 1st Baron Ravensworth. In the same year he moved to the House of Commons as an MP for Boroughbridge . A few months later he moved to the constituency in Bury St. Edmunds , which was controlled by his family. His grandfather died the following year. He inherited his title of nobility, was now Duke of Grafton and moved into the House of Lords .

In politics he was initially known as an opponent of John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute . Stuart was a favorite of King George III. Grafton allied himself with Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle against Lord Bute, whose tenure as Prime Minister was short-lived. In 1765, Grafton was appointed Privy Counselor . He was later made Secretary of State for the Northern Territories in Lord Rockingham's first administration, after discussions with William Pitt the Elder . However, he resigned a year later and Pitt, who had since become Earl of Chatham, formed a government in which Grafton was First Lord of the Treasury, but not Prime Minister.

Pitt's illness resulted in Grafton becoming the actual head of government in late 1767 - he is credited with assuming the post of prime minister in 1768. Political differences and the attacks of Junius , a letter to the editor who remained anonymous, led to his resignation in January 1770. In 1771 he became Lord Privy Seal in Lord North's government, but resigned in 1775 because he took a conciliatory attitude towards the American colonists. In the second Rockingham reign (1782) he was again Lord Privy Seal. In the following years he became a prominent Unitarian. In 1769 Grafton was taken over by King George III. awarded the Order of the Garter .

The Grafton County in New Hampshire ( USA ) was named after him and the Fitzroy Island in Queensland named James Cook on an expedition in 1770 to his credit.

family

FitzRoy was married to Anne (nee Liddell), daughter of Baron Ravensworth , with whom he had 3 children, since January 29, 1756 .

• Lady Georgiana FitzRoy († 1799)
• George Henry Fitzroy Lord Euston (1760-1844), who inherited the title
• General Lord Charles FitzRoy (1764–1829), British Army officer and politician

In 1764 he left his wife to enter into a relationship with Anne Parsons (aka Mrs. Houghton). In January 1765 he finally separated from his wife, from whom he was divorced in March 1769. In June 1769 he gave up his relationship with Mrs. Houghton to marry Elizabeth (nee Wrottesley), with whom he had 13 children. Underneath

• Reverend Lord Henry FitzRoy (1770-1828)
• Admiral Lord William FitzRoy (1782-1857)
• Lord John [Edward] FitzRoy (1785-1856)

Robert FitzRoy , a hydrograph , was his grandson.

literature

• Grafton, Dukes of . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 12 : Gichtel - harmonium . London 1910, section Augustus Henry FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton (1735–1811) , p. 316-317 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
• Fitzroy, Augustus Henry . In: John Venn , John Archibald Venn (eds.): Alumni Cantabrigienses . A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900. Part 1: From the earliest times to 1751 , volume 2 : Dabbs-Juxton . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1922, pp. 146 ( venn.lib.cam.ac.uk Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
• Dick Leonard: Eighteenth-Century British Premiers: Walpole to the Younger Pitt . Palgrave Macmillan UK, London 2011, ISBN 978-0-230-30463-5 , Augustus Henry Fitzroy, Third Duke of Grafton - Well-Intentioned Dilettante, pp. 154-165 , doi : 10.1057 / 9780230304635_11 .

Web links

• Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton on thepeerage.com
• Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd duke of Grafton - prime minister of United Kingdom. In: Encyclopædia Britannica. ( britannica.com ).
• Marjie Bloy: Augustus Henry Fitzroy, third Duke of Grafton (1735-1811). victorianweb.org

Individual evidence

1. ^ Fitzroy Island - Culture and History. Queensland Government - Department of National Parks, Sport and Racing, November 28, 2016, accessed August 30, 2017 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
Charles FitzRoy	Duke of Grafton 1757-1811	George FitzRoy