William Edgcumbe, 4th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe

William Henry Edgcumbe

William Henry Edgcumbe, 4th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe GCVO (born November 5, 1833 in London , † September 25, 1917 in Plymouth ) was a British nobleman, politician and courtier.

Origin and youth

William Edgcumbe came from the English noble family Edgcumbe . He was the eldest son of Ernest Edgcumbe and his wife Caroline Feilding . His parents named him after the photography pioneer William Henry Fox Talbot , a half-brother of his mother. Edgcumbe first attended Harrow School before studying at Christ Church College , Oxford .

Political activity

In the general election in 1859 Edgcumbe was elected as a Conservative Party MP for Plymouth . After the death of his father in September 1861, 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 . He was first Deputy Lieutenant and then, in 1877, Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall . From 1889 he was the first chairman of the newly formed Cornwall County Council and in 1897 he became Vice-Admiral of Cornwall. He was also in command of the Plymouth Volunteer Brigade and Colonel of Honor of the 5th Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment .

Service at the royal court

Edgcumbe took over numerous court offices at the royal court. As early as 1858 he had taken over the office of stable master in the household of Edward , the Prince of Wales, whom he then served as Lord of the Bedchamber from 1862 to 1866 and accompanied on several trips abroad. In 1879 he became a member of the Privy Council when he assumed the office of Lord Chamberlain of the Household . He exercised this until 1880. After that, with a brief interruption, he was Lord Steward of the Household from 1885 to 1892 in 1886 . From 1887 to 1897 he served as Queen Victoria's aide-de-camp . He was a member of the council of the Duchy of Cornwall and was from 1907 to 1910 Keeper of Privy Seal to George , Prince of Wales. For his services he was awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in 1897 .

Edgcumbe was an active freemason . From 1872 he was Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Cornwall. From 1891 to 1896 he was Deputy Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England .

Family and offspring

Edgcumbe had married on October 26, 1858 Katherine Elizabeth Hamilton , the fourth daughter of James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn and his wife Louisa Jane Russell. With her he had three daughters and a son:

• Piers Alexander Hamilton Edgcumbe, 5th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe
• Victoria Frederica Caroline Edgcumbe († 1920) ∞ Algernon Malcolm Arthur Percy
• Alberta Louisa Florence Edgcumbe († 1941) ∞ Henry Yarde Buller Lopes, 1st Baron Roburgh
• Edith Hilaria Edgcumbe († 1931) ∞ John Townshend St Aubyn, 2nd Baron Saint Leven

His wife died in 1874. Edgcumbe initially did not remarry. His unmarried sister Ernestine Edgcumbe supported him on official occasions and in bringing up his children . It was not until April 25, 1906 that he married his cousin Caroline Cecilia Liddell (* 1839; † February 23, 1909). His second wife was the widow of Athole Liddell, 3rd Earl of Ravensworth and the second daughter of George Edgcumbe , the third son of William's grandfather Richard Edgcumbe . She died in 1909, the marriage had remained childless. Edgcumbe was buried in Maker's church. His son Piers became his heir.

literature

• MOUNT EDGCUMBE, William Henry, 4th Earl of. In: Who Was Who, online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014

Web links

• Cracoft's Peerage: Earl of Mount Edgcumbe

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cynthia Gaskell Brown: Mount Edgcumbe House and Country Park: Guidebook , Mount Edgcumbe House and Country Park, Torpoint 2003, p. 24
2. ↑ Cynthia Gaskell Brown: Mount Edgcumbe House and Country Park: Guidebook , Mount Edgcumbe House and Country Park, Torpoint 2003, p. 24

predecessor	Office	successor
Ernest Edgcumbe	Earl of Mount Edgcumbe 1861-1917	Piers Edgcumbe