Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe

Richard Edgcumbe on cello (left). Satirical illustration by Edward Francis Burney, 1802

Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (born September 13, 1764 , † September 26, 1839 in Richmond upon Thames ) was a British peer and politician.

Origin and youth

Richard Edgcumbe came from the English noble family Edgcumbe . He was the only child of George Edgcumbe, 3rd Baron Edgcumbe and his wife Emma Gilbert . From 1774 to 1780 he attended Harrow School before studying at Christ Church College in Oxford from 1781 . Before he had even finished his studies, he went on a grand tour of France, Germany and Italy from 1783 to 1785 . In 1793 he graduated with a doctorate in law. After his father was raised to Earl of Mount Edgcumbe in 1789 , he carried the courtesy title Viscount Valletort .

Political career

Member of the House of Commons

By the influence of his father Edgcumbe was elected on February 13, 1786 in a by-election as a member of the Borough Fowey . When there were promising opposing candidates in Fowey in the general election in 1790, Edgcumbe ran in Lostwithiel , where his father held the office of recorder . On June 21, 1790 he was elected as a member of Parliament in Lostwithiel, but also on June 29 in Fowey. After his election was confirmed at Fowey in March 1791, he finally accepted that election. In the House of Commons he supported the government of the Tories and also supported Prime Minister Pitt during the government crisis of 1788-1789 . He attended the meetings regularly, but only one speech is known from him on the occasion of the opening of parliament in January 1790. After the death of his father in 1795, he inherited the title of Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, making him a member of the House of Lords and retired from the House of Commons.

Member of the House of Lords

Shortly after Edgcumbe inherited his father's title in 1795, he took over the offices of Lord Lieutenant and Vice-Admiral of Cornwall like his father . In June 1804 he applied for the office of Captain of the Gentlemen Pensioneers , but he did not receive this office until March 1808. To do this, he became a member of the Privy Council on March 9, 1808 . He held the post of guard captain until 1812. Due to his political influence in the elections in several boroughs in south-west England Edgcumbe had some influence in the British governments.

Fountain in the Italian garden of Mount Edgcumbe House landscaped by Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe

Others

Edgcumbe was an avid amateur actor and musician. As a lover of Italian operas, he composed the opera Zenobia himself . This work was performed only once, on May 22nd, 1800 at the King's Theater in London. For this purpose he wrote the text Musical reminiscences of an old amateur; chiefly respecting the Italian opera in England ... from 1793 to 1823 . This work on Italian music was not initially intended for publication. In 1825, however, it was published anonymously and then published in two further editions under Edgcumbe's name.

Edgcumbe and his wife were also avid gardeners. They had parts of the garden of the family mansion Mount Edgcumbe House remodeled, where they laid out formal gardens . They also had the adjacent park redesigned. In 1808 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society , in the same year he was also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries . He was buried in the churchyard in Petersham .

family

Richard Edgcumbe had married on February 21, 1789 Sophia Hobart (1768-1806), the third daughter of John Hobart, 2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire . With her he had three sons and two daughters:

• Emma Sophia Edgcumbe (July 28, 1791 - January 28, 1872) ∞ John Cust, 1st Earl Brownlow
• Caroline Edgcumbe († April 10, 1824) ∞ Ranald George Macdonald, 19th Clanranald and Benbecula (born August 29, 1788; † March 11, 1873)
• William Richard Edgcumbe (born November 19, 1794 - † October 29, 1818)
• Ernest Edgcumbe, 3rd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (March 23, 1797 - September 3, 1861)
• George Edgcumbe (June 23, 1800 - February 18, 1882)

Since his eldest son had died in 1818, his second oldest son, Ernest, became his heir.

Works

• Musical reminiscenses of the Earl Richard Edgcumbe of Mount Edgcumbe . Containing an account of the Italian opera in England from 1773 to 1834. Unabr. republ. of the 4th ed. London 1834. Ca Capo, New York 1973, ISBN 0-306-70008-5 .

literature

• Lloyd Charles Sanders: Edgcumbe, Richard (1764-1839) , in: Dictionary of National Biography . Volume XVI . Macmillan, Smith, Elder & Co., London and New York 1888, p. 378.

Web links

Commons : Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Anne Pimlott Baker: Edgcumbe, Richard second earl of Mount Edgcumbe (1764-1839). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004
• Sir Lewis Namier: EDGCUMBE, Hon. Richard (1764-1839). (History of Parliament Online, Ref Volumes: 1754–1790)
• RG Thorne: EDGCUMBE, Richard, Visct. Valletort (1764-1839), of Mount Edgcumbe, Cornw. (History of Parliament Online, Ref Volumes: 1790-1820)
• Cracoft's Peerage: Earl of Mount Edgcumbe
• Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe on thepeerage.com , accessed August 26, 2017.

Individual evidence

1. ^ History of Parliament Online: Fowey, Ref Volumes 1790-1820. Retrieved August 26, 2017 . 
2. ↑ Cynthia Gaskell Brown: Mount Edgcumbe House and Country Park: Guidebook , Mount Edgcumbe House and Country Park, Torpoint 2003, p. 22
3. ^ List of Fellows of the Royal Society 1660 - 2007. Retrieved August 26, 2017 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
George Edgcumbe	Earl of Mount Edgcumbe 1795-1839	Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe