Lord Robert Spencer
New Woodstock | |
---|---|
In office 1818–1820 Serving with Sir Henry Dashwood | |
Preceded by | Sir Henry Dashwood William Thornton |
Succeeded by | John Gladstone James Langston |
Personal details | |
Born | 8 May 1747 |
Died | 23 June 1831 | (aged 84)
Spouse |
Harriet Bouverie
(after 1811) |
Parent(s) | Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough Elizabeth Spencer, Duchess of Marlborough |
Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
Lord Robert Spencer (8 May 1747 – 23 June 1831) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons several times between 1768 and 1818.
Early life
Spencer was born on 8 May 1747. He was the son of Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Trevor, 2nd Baron Trevor.[1]
He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford on 10 April 1762 and was awarded MA on 6 May 1765.[2] From 1766 to 1768 he undertook a Grand Tour through Austria, Italy and France.[3]
Career
At the
Spencer was a member of a subscription committee set up to raise funds to support the Whigs in the forthcoming general election. He remained active in fund-raising appeals for the party for many years afterwards. In consequence the Duke of Marlborough replaced him as candidate for Oxford in 1790. Fox may have intended a seat for Winchelsea for him, but nothing transpired. He did not want to spend £3,000 to buy a seat at Wootton Bassett or risk an expensive contest at Evesham, and did not want to be a liability on his party. He maintained a vain hope that the family interest would be available at Oxford, but it was not. In the 1790 general election he was elected MP for Wareham probably at the party's expense.[4] In the 1796 general election the Whigs appear to have paid £3,000 his return again at Wareham. However, he was in financial difficulties in 1799 and lost through gambling again so heavily that he had to sell his London house and pictures. He resigned his seat in February 1799.[4]
In March 1802 a vacancy arose for Spencer at Tavistock and he was elected at a by-election on 25 March 1802. In August 1802 he went to Paris with Fox, and met Napoleon with whom he discussed his great ancestor. Later when Napoleon was at St Helena Spencer sent him a biography of Marlborough. He was returned for Tavistock in the 1802 and 1806 general elections. He was Surveyor General of Woods, Forests, Parks, and Chases from February 1806 to March 1807. When Fox died his political raison d’être was gone and he gave up his seat at 1807. He never ceased to lament and praise Fox.[4]
He resumed his seat for Tavistock in 1817 as a stopgap for the Duke of Bedford when Lord John Russell vacated the seat through illness and was returned in a by-election on 12 March 1817. Similarly he stood in for his own family at Woodstock in the 1818 general election although his nephew the Duke of Marlborough withdrew him from Woodstock in 1820.[4]
Personal life
Spencer was an inveterate gambler and having lost his official salary found himself in financial difficulties around 1781, until he was admitted to a twelfth share in
Spencer married his mistress Harriet Bouverie on 2 October 1811, a year after the death of her husband.[1]
Spencer retired to Woolbeding which he had tastefully embellished. He died on 23 June 1831, “a venerable grave old man”. He left Woolbeding to his natural daughter Diana Bouverie whose mother had predeceased him.[4] She married George Ponsonby.[7]
References
- ^ a b "Marlborough, Duke of (E, 1702)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Archived from the original on 27 April 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
- Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: Parker and Co – via Wikisource.
- ^ a b c "SPENCER, Lord Robert (1747-1831)". History of Parliament Online (54-90). Retrieved 19 September 2017.
- ^ a b c d e "SPENCER, Lord Robert (1747-1831)". History of Parliament Online (90-1820). Retrieved 21 September 2017.
- ^ "BOUVERIE, Hon. Edward I (1738-1810), of Delapré Abbey, nr. Northampton". History of Parliament Online (54-90). Retrieved 19 September 2017.
- ^ British History Online. Woolbeding
- History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
Sources
- "Mrs Bouverie and Mrs Crewe: two Whig hostesses from the 18th Century". 25 January 2015.