Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edwin Longsden Long : Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere, oil on canvas, undated
Coat of arms of Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere, as a Knight of the Order of the Garter

Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere KG , PC (born Leveson-Gower , born January 1, 1800 in London , † February 18, 1857 there ) was a British politician, writer and art lover.

Life

The youngest son of George Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland and Elizabeth Gordon, 19th Countess of Sutherland . He was at Eton College educated and studied at Christ Church College of Oxford University . From 1821 to 1823 he served with the rank of Cornet in the 10th Hussars .

As heir to the lands of his third uncle Francis Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater , who died childless in 1829 , he took his family name and coat of arms on August 24, 1833 under royal license.

He was first elected to the House of Commons in 1822 . From 1822 to 1826 he was an MP for Bletchingley, Surrey , 1826-1831 for Sutherland and from 1835 to 1846 for South Lancashire . He was a supporter of moderate conservatism . Under the Wellington administration he was Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1829 to 1830 , the second highest British official in Ireland, then Minister of War. Egerton was a partisan of the Tories and an early supporter of economic liberalism . He advocated unrestricted free trade and against workers' rights . In 1846 he was raised as Earl of Ellesmere and Viscount Brackley in the peerage and thereby a member of the House of Lords . In 1855 he was accepted into the Order of the Garter as a Knight Companion .

In addition to his political activities, he mainly devoted himself to literary , scientific and artistic pursuits. He exhibited the collection of Italian , Spanish , Dutch , German , French and English works of art inherited from his father at Bridgewater House in St. James's Park , published a number of geographical treatises in the Quarterly Review (1834-54), wrote several works on Works of art and public works and carefully studied the works of the Archaeological Society.

Egerton's most important works are the Guide to Northern Archeology (1848) as well as several historical works, including a description of the Battle of Waterloo , a biography of Blücher , an analysis of the French and English reports of the Battle of Waterloo and Military Events in Italy in the Years 1848 and 1849 (1851). He published a collection of his poems under the title: The Pilgrim Age, and other poems (1856). In addition, he provided translations of several foreign, especially German, writers, including Goethe's Faust and Schiller's Wallenstein .

Egerton was married to Harriet Catherine nee Greville since 1822. The couple had eleven children. Egerton died on February 18, 1857 at Bridgewater House, London.

During his lifetime, the British named Arctic explorer Edward Inglefield to the Queen Elizabeth Islands belonging Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago after him.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 59.

literature

Web links

predecessor Office successor
New title created Earl of Ellesmere
1846-1857 		George Egerton
personal data
SURNAME Egerton, Francis, 1st Earl of Ellesmere
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Egerton, Lord Francis; Leveson-Gower, Lord Francis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British writer and art lover
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1800
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH February 18, 1857
Place of death London