Richard Grosvenor, 1st Earl Grosvenor

Attributed to Richard, 1st Earl Grosvenor, Joshua Reynolds

Edward Lloyd Richard Grosvenor, 1st Earl Grosvenor (born June 18, 1731 at Eaton Hall , Cheshire , † August 5, 1802 in London ) was an English nobleman , politician , horse owner and art collector.

Personal

Grosvenor financed the construction of the Eastgate in Chester

Richard Grosvenor was born in the Eaton Hall family home, the eldest son of Sir Robert Grosvenor, 6th Baronet . He studied at Oriel College , Oxford , which he finished in 1751 with a Master of Arts degree and in 1754 with a doctorate in law . In the same year he became a member of parliament for Chester and represented the city there until 1761, when he was raised to Baron Grosvenor and from then on was a member of the House of Lords .

In 1759 Grosvenor became Mayor of Chester, and in 1768 he sponsored the construction of the city's Eastgate . He enlarged his estates by buying the village of Belgrave and the Eccleston estate . After his father's death in 1755, he inherited his title as 7th Baronet , of Eaton in the County of Chester.

In 1764, Richard Grosvenor married Henrietta Vernon, daughter of Henry Vernon of Hilton Park , Staffordshire ; the couple had four sons. The marriage was not happy, however, and Henrietta Grosvenor had a love affair with Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn , the younger brother of King George III. The couple were caught red-handed in 1769 , after which Grosvenor sued the Duke of Cumberland for adultery . He was awarded £ 10,000 in damages (around £ 1,430,000 in today's value). But since Grosvenor himself had committed the marriage, he could not file for divorce. The couple separated and Richard Grosvenor offered his wife an annual income of £ 1,200 (around £ 130,000 in today's value). Henrietta Vernon turned to the demi monde and became a member of the Female Coterie , a group of noble ladies who met to play cards at Almack’s Club.

politics

At first Grosvenor was like his father Tory , but later he turned to the ideas of William Pitt . In 1785 he supported the Second Newcastle Ministry , a coalition between Pitt and the Duke of Newcastle and was subsequently raised to Baron Grosvenor in 1761 . However, when the Tory Earl of Bute became Prime Minister the following year , he supported him in order to take his side again when Pitt became Prime Minister again in 1766. In the 1770s, he supported Prime Minister Frederick North during the American Revolutionary War . In 1783 he voted against the India Bill , introduced by Fox , a law that would transfer the political power of the British East India Company to a commission of the British Parliament. The following year he was awarded the titles Viscount Belgrave and Earl Grosvenor by William Pitt the Younger .

personal interests

Benjamin West: The Death of General Wolfe

Grosvenor was interested in art collecting and horse racing. He was a patron of the satirist and journalist William Gifford . For his art collection he bought works from Italy and paintings by Benjamin West , including The Death of General Wolfe , Thomas Gainsborough , Richard Wilson and George Stubbs . In 1788, literary works by various unknown authors created at Eaton Hall were published under the title The Eaton Chronicle, or The Salt-Box . Grosvenor was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1777 .

Grosvenor had stables built in Eaton and Wallasey for his horse breeding . His horses won three derby and six Oaks races in Epsom . Grosvenor was, among other things, the owner of Pot-8-os , a racehorse that is descended in direct paternal line from Darley Arabian . This stallion , imported by Thomas Darley from Syria to Aldby Park , Buttercrambe in 1704 , is one of the founding fathers of the English thoroughbred. Grosvenor bought Pot-8-os from his breeder for 1,500 guineas after the latter had a bad start in the 1,200 guinean race and apparently had little chance of victory.

In the 1760s, Richard Grosvenor made use of Aubrey House , in Holland Park . A device fitted to building Blue Plaque (blue sticker) reminds us of him and other residents.

death

The blue plaque on Aubrey House

Richard Grosvenor died in Earls Court in 1802 and was buried in the family vault of St. Mary's Church in Eccleston . His fortune was under £ 70,000 (today's value £ 5,160,000) but his debts exceeded £ 100,000 (today's value £ 7,370,000). His heir was his eldest son Robert .

Individual evidence

1. ^ The London Gazette : No. 10092, p. 1 , March 31, 1761.
2. ^ ^{A b c d} S. M. Farrell, SM: "Grosvenor, Richard, first Earl Grosvenor (1731-1802)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Oxford University Press. Retrieved April 10, 2010
3. ↑ Stella Tillyard: A Royal Affair: George III and His Troublesome Siblings . Random House 2010. ISBN 1-4090-1769-9 . Pp. 169-175
4. ^ ^{A b c} Diana Newton / John Lumby: The Grosvenors of Eaton . Eccleston, Cheshire. ISBN 0-9543379-0-5 . Pp. 16-21
5. ↑ Hallie Rubenhold : Lady Worsley's Whim . Vintage Books London 2008. pp. 176-177
6. ↑ Christopher Hibbert: George III - A Personal History . Penguin Books, London 1998, ISBN 0-670-86941-4 . P. 243
7. ^ Entry on Grosvenor; Richard (1731-1802); 1st Earl Grosvenor in the Royal Society Archives , London
8. ↑ Christopher McGrath: Mr. Darley's Arabian - High Life, Low Life, Sporting Life: A History of Racing in Twenty-Five Horses . John Murray, London 2016, ISBN 978-1-84854-984-5 . E-book position 1289
9. ^ Survey of London . 37. British History Online. Retrieved December 1, 2012
10. ^ Aubrey House on English Heritage. Retrieved December 1, 2012

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Earl Grosvenor 1784-1802	Robert Grosvenor
New title created	Baron Grosvenor 1761-1802	Robert Grosvenor
Robert Grosvenor	Baronet, of Eaton 1755-1802	Robert Grosvenor