Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater

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Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater
Coat of arms of Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater

Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater (born May 21, 1736 - March 8, 1803 in London ), was a British peer , politician and entrepreneur .

Life

Egerton was the youngest son of Scroop Egerton, 1st Duke of Bridgewater , from his second marriage to Lady Rachel Russell, daughter of Wriothesley Russell, 2nd Duke of Bedford . As the younger son of a Duke , he used the courtesy address "Lord" Francis Egerton until 1748 . He was still a minor when he died in 1748 on the death of his older brother John Egerton, 2nd Duke of Bridgewater , whose nobility titles were 3rd Duke of Bridgewater , 3rd Marquess of Brackley , 6th Earl of Bridgewater , 7th Viscount Brackley and 7th Baron Ellesmere inherited. When he was a minor, his mother took over the management of his lands.

Around 1759 he got engaged to Elizabeth Gunning , widow of James Hamilton, 6th Duke of Hamilton , but there was no marriage. In 1759, Elizabeth finally married John Campbell , who later became the 5th Duke of Argyll .

Egerton is known as the founder of British inland shipping and as the commissioner of the Bridgewater Canal , which was built for him by James Brindley to provide a shipping route to his coal mines in Worsley , Lancashire . The canal is considered to be the first navigable canal of modern times. Later Egerton had a canal built from Liverpool to Manchester . One of his most unusual constructions is the underground boat lift in the form of an inclined elevator inside the Worsley coal mine . Here boats with a load capacity of up to twelve tons could enter the pit directly from the Bridgewater Canal and be loaded there. This construction was described in detail by Francis Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater , in his book Description du Plan Incliné Souterrain in 1812 . All of this earned Egerton the nickname Canal Duke .

Egerton was considered one of the richest men of his time in the Kingdom of Great Britain . His net worth is said to have exceeded £ 2,000,000 . Among other things, he had the Ashridge Park family home torn down. Before he could start the new building, however, Egerton died of influenza in 1803 . On the site there is now a 33 m high tower, the Bridgewater Monument , which was built in his memory. He died unmarried and childless. The titles Duke of Bridgewater and Marquess of Brackley expired, while the older titles Earl of Bridgewater , Viscount Brackley and Baron Ellesmere passed to his second nephew John Egerton . He was buried in Little Gaddesden .

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predecessor Office successor
John Egerton Duke of Bridgewater
1748-1803 		Title expired
John Egerton Earl of Bridgewater
1748-1803 		John Egerton
personal data
SURNAME Egerton, Francis, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Egerton, Lord Francis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British peer, politician and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH May 21, 1736
DATE OF DEATH March 8, 1803
Place of death London