Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford

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Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford

Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford , PC ( August 4, 1721 - October 26, 1803 ) was a British politician and peer .

origin

He was a son of John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower and his wife Lady Evelyn Pierrepont. His maternal grandparents were Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull and his first wife, Lady Mary Feilding. Mary was a daughter of William Feilding, 3rd Earl of Denbigh and his wife Mary King. His father was a prominent Tory politician who, under John Carteret's administration, had entered parliament in 1742 as the first Tory since the accession of George I to the throne . Gower was at the Westminster School educated and studied at the College Christ Church in Oxford .

Political career

From 1744 to 1747 he was an MP in the House of Commons for Bishop's Castle and from April 1754 to December 1754 for Lichfield . By the time his father was promoted to Earl Gower in 1746 , his older brothers had already died, so his father's heir apparent henceforth carried the courtesy title Viscount Trentham . When his father died on December 25, 1754, he inherited this as 2nd Earl Gower , thus receiving a seat in the House of Lords and leaving the House of Commons for it. Stafford was a supporter of his brother-in-law John Russell and received several government duties as a result. After Bedford's death in 1771, Gower became the leader of the Bedfordist faction, and as Lord President of the Council in the administration of Frederick North , he was critical of the American colonialists.

Gower was frustrated by what he saw in the North American administration during the American Revolutionary War and resigned from his cabinet seat in 1779. When North resigned in March 1782, Gower was asked to create a ministry. He declined, however, and also declined subsequent offers from both William Petty and the Fox - North coalition to join the government. Instead, he became a major figure in the overthrow of the Fox-North coalition and was rewarded with the position of Lord President in the new administration of William Pitt the Younger . Although he soon swapped office with that of Lord Privy Seal and gradually withdrew from politics, he remained cabinet minister until his retirement in 1794. In 1786 he was made Marquess of Stafford as a reward for his services .

family

Stafford married three times. He married Elizabeth Fazakerley, daughter of Nicholas Fazakerley , in 1744 for the first time . Elizabeth died of smallpox two years later . He had no children with her.

In 1748, Stafford married Lady Louisa, daughter of Scroop Egerton, 1st Duke of Bridgewater , in 1748. She died in 1761. He had four children with her:

Louisa, Lady Macdonald

In 1768 he married Lady Susannah, a daughter of Alexander Stewart, 6th Earl of Galloway , in his third marriage . He had four children with her:

Lord Stafford died in Trentham Hall , Staffordshire , in October 1803 , at the age of 82. His title was inherited by his eldest son from his second marriage, George, who became Duke of Sutherland in 1833 . The Marchioness of Stafford died in August 1805.

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predecessor Office successor
Re-created title Marquess of Stafford
1786-1803 		George Leveson-Gower
John Leveson-Gower Earl Gower
1754-1803 		George Leveson-Gower
personal data
SURNAME Leveson-Gower, Granville, 1st Marquess of Stafford
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Leveson-Gower, Granville, 2nd Earl Gower; Leveson-Gower, Granville, Viscount Trentham
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British politician
DATE OF BIRTH August 4, 1721
DATE OF DEATH October 26, 1803