George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer

Thomas Gainsborough : George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer, oil on canvas, c. 1775

George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer KG , PC , FRS , FSA (* 1. September 1758 in Wimbledon , †  10. November 1834 at Althorp in Northamptonshire ) was a British nobleman and Whig - politicians .

Life

George John was the only son of five children of the politician John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer (1734–1783) and his wife Margaret Georgiana Poyntz (1737–1814), a daughter of Stephen Poyntz and Anna Maria Mordaunt. His sisters were Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire , and Henrietta Frances Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough . He was baptized on October 16, 1758 at Wimbledon; The godparents were the British King George II , William Clavering-Cowper, 2nd Earl Cowper (the second husband of his grandmother, Lady Georgiana Caroline Carteret), his paternal aunt Elizabeth Spencer, Duchess of Marlborough, and his great aunt, the Dowager Viscountess Bateman .

After being first in Harrow had gone to school, studied Spencer at Trinity College of the University of Cambridge philosophy and politics ; where he in 1778 with a Master of Arts ( Latin Magister Artium ) graduated . Between 1780 and 1782 he was elected Knight of the Shire for Northamptonshire and from 1782 to 1783 as Knight of the Shire for Surrey in the House of Commons . When his father died in 1783 he inherited his title of nobility as 2nd Earl Spencer and moved to the House of Lords . He also took over the post of High Steward of St Albans from his father in 1783 , which he held until 1807. In 1790 he also became mayor of St Albans. In 1793 received his doctorate Spencer at the University of Oxford with a Doctorate in Civil Law ( Doctorate of Civil Law ). Within the British Army he was promoted to Colonel in the Northampton Regiment of Yeomanry in 1794 .

In 1782 he held the office of Lord of the Treasury and in 1794 that of Lord Seal Keeper and in 1794 became a member of the Privy Council . Between July 1794 and October 1794 he acted as a special ambassador in Vienna . In the Pitt Cabinet , Spencer was First Lord of the Admiralty from 1794 to 1801 , and Home Secretary for the next government of all talents . In 1799 he was awarded the Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter .

George John Spencer was considered a great collector and patron in the literary world . He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1780 and the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1785 , and was President of the Royal Institution of Great Britain from 1813 to 1825 . In the course of his life he acquired an extensive book collection (around 40,000 books), which was supplemented not only by book purchases but also by numerous donations from his contemporaries. The library on the Althorp family estate was considered one of the most beautiful private libraries in Europe . The Spencer Library was put up for sale in 1892 and acquired by Enriqueta Augustina Rylands for the John Rylands Library , which became part of the University of Manchester in 1972 .

George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer, died at the age of 76 and was buried next to his wife in Great Brington Cemetery on November 19, 1834 .

Joshua Reynolds : Lavinia Spencer, Countess Spencer, oil on canvas, c. 1781

Marriage and offspring

On March 6, 1781, George John Spencer married in Mayfair , London , Lady Lavinia Bingham (1762-1831), daughter of Charles Bingham, 1st Earl of Lucan , and Margaret Smith. Nine children emerged from the mutual relationship:

• John Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl Spencer (1782–1845) ⚭ 1814 Esther Acklom (1788–1818);
• Lady Sarah Spencer (1787–1870) ⚭ 1813 William Lyttelton, 3rd Baron Lyttelton (1782–1837);
• Richard Spencer (1789-1791);
• Robert Spencer (1791-1830), Captain of the Royal Navy and Commander in Madagascar ;
• William Spencer (* / † 1792);
• Harriet Spencer (* / † 1793);
• Georgiana Charlotte Spencer (1794–1823) ⚭ 1814 Lord George Quin (1792–1888);
• Frederick Spencer, 4th Earl Spencer (1798-1857), Vice-Admiral of the Royal Navy, ⚭ (1) 1830 Georgiana Elizabeth Poyntz (1799-1851), ⚭ (2) 1854 Adelaide Horatia Elizabeth Seymour (1825-1877);
• Rev. George Spencer (1799–1864), later known as Father Ignatius Spencer .

Worth mentioning

• The Spencer Gulf on the south coast of Australia was named in 1802 by its discoverer , Matthew Flinders (1774-1814), in honor of the 2nd Earl Spencer.
• The Spencer jacket is a close-fitting, short jacket and was in vogue as the Regency style between 1790 and 1820 . It is named after the Earl Spencer.

literature

• Charles Mosley: Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage . Volume 3, Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, Wilmington 2003, p. 3695.
• George Edward Cokayne (Ed.): The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom . Volume XII, Part 1, Alan Sutton Publishing, Gloucester 2000, pp. 153-157.
• Peter W. Hammond: The Complete Peerage or a History of the House of Lords and All its Members From the Earliest Times. Addenda & Corrigenda, Gloucester 1998.

Web links

Commons : George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer on thepeerage.com

Remarks

1. ^ Anthony Lister: "The Althorp Library of Second Earl Spencer, now in the John Rylands University Library of Manchester: its formation and growth". (PDF; 500 kB), in: Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester , Vol. 71, No. 2 (1989), pp. 67-86
2. ^ Matthew Flinders: A Voyage to Terra Australis. London 1814.
3. ↑ Ladies' Fashions of the Regency Era at wemakehistory.com
4. ↑ Making a man's Tailcoat at northwestjournal.ca
5. ↑ Earl Spencer and the Short Spencer Jacket at fashion-era.com

predecessor	Office	successor
John Spencer	Earl Spencer 1783-1834	John Spencer
John Pitt	First Lord of the Admiralty 1794–1801	John Jervis