George Granville, 1st Baron Lansdowne

The Right Honourable
The Lord Lansdowne
PC
The Right Honourable The Lord Lansdowne PC
	George Granville, 1st Baron Lansdowne
Secretary at War
	In office; 1710–1712
Preceded by	Robert Walpole
Succeeded by	Sir William Wyndham
Personal details
Born	Birdcage Walk, London; 9 March 1666
Died	29 January 1735 (aged 68); Hanover Square, London
Nationality	British
Spouse	Mary Villiers (m. 1711⁠–⁠1735)
Parents	Bernard Granville; Anne Morley;
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

George Granville, 1st Baron Lansdowne

British House of Commons from 1702 until 1712, when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Lansdown and sat in the House of Lords. He was Secretary at War during the Harley administration from 1710 to 1712. He was also a noted poet and made a name for himself with verses composed on the visit of Mary of Modena, then Duchess of York, while he was at Cambridge in 1677. He was also a playwright, following in the style of John Dryden

.

Origins

Granville was the son of

heir male of William Granville, 3rd Earl of Bath (1692-1711),^[2] the 19-year-old son of his first cousin Charles Granville, 2nd Earl of Bath (1661–1701), lord of the manors of Bideford in Devon and of Stowe, Kilkhampton, Cornwall. These connections guaranteed that Granville began life as a staunch Tory and Jacobite

.

Career

Granville was sent to France at the age of ten, with his tutor, William Ellis, who was a proponent of passive resistance and later a servant of James II at St Germain. He entered

Shakespeare and Granville's The Jew of Venice (1701) was a successful updating of The Merchant of Venice. Perhaps his greatest success was The British Enchanters (1705), a pseudo-operatic extravaganza staged by Thomas Betterton

's company.

In the opinion of Samuel Johnson, Granville's non-dramatic poetry is slavishly imitative of Edmund Waller. However some of his poetry was popular in its day. Perhaps Granville's most useful act as regards poetry was the encouragement he gave to Alexander Pope, which Pope remembered with gratitude in his Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot.

Political life

The death of Granville's parents and of his uncle the 1st Earl of Bath in 1701 placed Granville in a position of power which the accession of

1708 general election, he was returned again for Fowey. The height of his fame during the Godolphin-Marlborough administration came from his spirited defence of Henry Sacheverell in 1710.^[4]

After the fall of the Godolphin government, Granville became MP for

heir male to the senior line of the Granville family following the death without progeny in 1711 of his cousin William Granville, 3rd Earl of Bath. He was not in succession to the earldom and was in recognition raised to the peerage on 1 January 1712 as Baron Lansdown of Bideford^[7] in the Peerage of Great Britain and vacated his seat in the House of Commons. He was one of Harley's Dozen created at once to change the political balance in the Whig-dominated Lord. He expended time and money in an ultimately futile effort to secure the title of Earl of Bath. Despite some success, his tenure in the War Office was marred by accusations of corruption and expensive contested elections. He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1712.^[4]

In 1714 Queen Anne was succeeded by the

Battle of Lansdown

in 1643. The titles created on 3 November 1721 were with remainder to the heirs male of his body, whom failing to his brother, Bernard Granville, and the heirs male of his body.

Marriage

On 15 December 1711 in the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields in Westminster, London, he married (as her 2nd husband) Mary Villiers, the daughter of Edward Villiers, 1st Earl of Jersey (1656–1711) and the widow of Thomas Thynne (d. 1710).

Death and burial

He died in London on 29 January 1735, his wife having predeceased him by a few days, and was buried with her in the Church of St Clement Danes on 3 February 1735. He left no male progeny, and thus at his death the Barony of Lansdowne became extinct. His Jacobite titles, such as they were, were inherited by his nephew Bernard Granville, son of his brother Bernard. The younger Bernard died in 1776, when the Jacobite peerages created on 3 November 1721 became extinct, while those created on 6 October 1721 passed to his heir male.^[11]

Works

George Granville Lansdowne, Baron (1732). A letter to the author of Reflexions historical and political : Occasioned by a treatise In Vindication of General Monk, and Sir Richard Granville, &c. By the Right Honourable George Granville, Lord Lansdowne. London : Printed for J. Tonson in the Strand ; And L. Gilliver in Fleetstreet, MDCCXXXII.
George Granville Lansdowne, Baron (1779-1780).The poetical works : of the Right Hon. Geo. Granville, Lord Landsdowne. With the life of the author.Edinburg : At the Apollo Press, by the Martins.
George Granville Lansdowne, Baron. Select poems of George Granville, Lord Lansdowne. With a life of the author.Works of the British poets ... v. 17, p. [157]-203
George Granville Lansdowne, Baron (1736). The genuine works in verse and prose, of the Right Honourable George Granville, Lord Lansdowne.London : Printed for J. and R. Tonson, at Shakespear's Head in the Strand, and L. Gilliver, J. Clarke, at Homer's Head in Fleetstreet, MDCCXXXVI
George Granville Lansdowne, Baron (1807).The poetical works of George Granville, Lord Landsdowne [sic] : with the life of the author. Printed for Cadell and Davies ... and Samuel Bagster.
George Granville Lansdowne, Baron (1785).Ode to Lansdown-hill, with notes, mostly relative to the Granville family : to which are added, two letters of advice from George lord Lansdown, anno MDCCXI, to William Henry earl of Bath.London : Printed by J. Nichols, for W. Randall, Pall-Mall
George Granville Lansdowne, Baron (1732). A letter to the author of Reflexions historical and political, occasioned by a treatise in vindication of General Monk and Sir Richard Granville, &c.London : Printed for J. Tonson ..., and L. Gilliver.
George Granville Lansdowne, Baron (1736).The genuine works in verse and prose.London : Tonson.^[12]

References

^ J. Horace Round, Family Origins and Other Studies, ed. Page, William, 1930, p.164, The Granvilles and the Monks, p.130
^ J. Horace Round, Family Origins and Other Studies, ed. Page, William, 1930, p.164, The Granvilles and the Monks, p.141
^ "Grenville, George, Baron Lansdowne (GRNL677G)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ ^a ^b ^c "GRANVILLE, George (1666-1735), of Stowe, Cornw". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
^ As seen on his heraldic achievement in the Church of St James the Great, Kilkhampton, Cornwall
^ Haydn, Joseph, Book of Dignities (London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longman, 1851), p. 190.
^ Round, p.141
^ The new patent referred to him as "George Granvill, commonly called Lord Lansdown..." (Round, p.141)
^ Round, p.140
^ Round, p.140
^ Melville de Massue de Ruvigny, The Jacobite Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage & Grants of Honour (Edinburgh: T.C. & E.C. Jack, 1904), 15-16
^ Lansdowne, George Granville, Baron, 1667–1735 Retrieved on 10 Jan 2018.

External links

Works by or about George Granville at Wikisource
Quotations related to George Granville, 1st Baron Lansdowne at Wikiquote
George Granville at the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
Peers informations^[usurped]

Parliament of England
Preceded by John Williams John Hicks	Member of Parliament for Fowey 1702–1707 With: John Hicks	Succeeded by Parliament of Great Britain
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Parliament of England	Member of Parliament for 1707–1710 With: John Hicks 1707–1708 Henry Vincent 1708–1710	Succeeded by Henry Vincent Viscount Dupplin
Preceded by Sir John Evelyn	Member of Parliament for Helston 1710 With: Sidney Godolphin	Succeeded by Sidney Godolphin Robert Child
Preceded by Hugh Boscawen James Buller	Member of Parliament for Cornwall 1710–1712 With: John Trevanion	Succeeded by John Trevanion Sir Richard Vyvyan, Bt
Military offices
Preceded by Sir Bevil Granville	Governor of Pendennis Castle 1703–1714	Succeeded by Richard Munden
Political offices
Preceded by Robert Walpole	Secretary at War 1710–1712	Succeeded by Sir William Wyndham, Bt
Preceded by Sir John Holland, Bt	Comptroller of the Household 1711–1712	Succeeded by Sir John Stonhouse, Bt
Preceded by The 1st Earl of Cholmondeley	Treasurer of the Household 1712–1714	Succeeded by The 1st Earl of Cholmondeley

[1] J. Horace Round, Family Origins and Other Studies, ed. Page, William, 1930, p.164, The Granvilles and the Monks, p.130

[2] J. Horace Round, Family Origins and Other Studies, ed. Page, William, 1930, p.164, The Granvilles and the Monks, p.141

[3] "Grenville, George, Baron Lansdowne (GRNL677G)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[HOP-4] "GRANVILLE, George (1666-1735), of Stowe, Cornw". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 30 June 2019.

[5] As seen on his heraldic achievement in the Church of St James the Great, Kilkhampton, Cornwall

[6] Haydn, Joseph, Book of Dignities (London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longman, 1851), p. 190.

[7] Round, p.141

[8] The new patent referred to him as "George Granvill, commonly called Lord Lansdown..." (Round, p.141)

[9] Round, p.140

[10] Round, p.140

[11] Melville de Massue de Ruvigny, The Jacobite Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage & Grants of Honour (Edinburgh: T.C. & E.C. Jack, 1904), 15-16

[12] Lansdowne, George Granville, Baron, 1667–1735 Retrieved on 10 Jan 2018.

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[5]

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