battered the doors and windows for three hours. Her husband succeeded to the dukedom of Argyll in 1770, and on 4 May 1776 she was created Baroness Hamilton of Hambledon in Leicestershire, with remainder to her male issue as barons. SirN. Wraxall says that 'even when far advanced in life, and with very decayed health,' she was remarkably beautiful, and 'seemed composed of a finer clay than the rest of her sex.' By her second husband she had three sons: George John, died in infancy; George William and John Douglas, who both became dukes of Argyll; and two daughters: Augusta, who for a short time captivated the Prince of Wales (George IV), and who married Colonel (afterwards General) Henry Clavering; and Charlotte Susan Maria, afterwards Lady Charlotte Bury [q. v.] The duchess died at London, on 20 May 1790, and was buried in the collegiate church of Kilmun in Argyllshire. Her barony descended to her second son, Douglas, eighth duke of Hamilton, her eldest son having died without issue in 1779. On the death of the Duke of Hamilton without issue in 1799, it passed to George William, her eldest surviving son by her second husband, the Duke of Argyll. There are portraits of Elizabeth Gunning as duchess of Hamilton by F. Cotes, engraved by James McArdell; by W. Hamilton, engraved by J. Finlayson; as duchess of Argyll by C. Read (in a lace-cap), engraved by J. Finlayson 1770. An engraving by Cook from this picture forms the frontispiece to Jesse's 'Selwyn and his Contemporaries.' There is an engraved portrait by R. Houston in Houston's 'Miss Gunnings.' Another portrait by Read was engraved by R. Lawrie 1771 (Bromley, Cat. of Portraits, p. 417).
[Horace Walpole's Letters, ii-ix. passim, ed. Cunningham; Memoirs of Reign of George III, i. 70, iii. 188; Last Journals, ii. 296; Strange Occurrences; Works, iv. 366, ed. Berry; Wraxall's Memoirs, v. 369, 370; Quarterly Review, cv. 477; Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, i. 119, 723. ed. Wood; Courthope's Historic Peerage, p. 233.]
GUNNING, ELIZABETH, afterwards Mrs. Plunkett (1769–1823). [See under Gunning, Susannah.]
GUNNING, HENRY (1768–1854), senior esquire bedell of the university of Cambridge, was born at Newton, Cambridgeshire, on 13 Feb. 1768. His father, Francis Gunning, who was vicar of Newton and also of the adjacent parishes of Thriplow and Hauxton, was grandson of William Gunning, the first cousin and secretary of Peter Gunning [q. v.], successively bishop of Chichester and Ely.
Henry was educated first at Ely, in a school kept by Jeffrey Bentham, a minor canon of the cathedral, and brother of James Bentham [q. v.]; and afterwards in the endowed school of Sleaford, Lincolnshire, under the Rev. Edward Waterson. He entered Christ's College, Cambridge, as a sizar in October 1784, became a scholar of that house, and graduated B.A. as sixth wrangler in 1788 (M.A. 1791). On 13 Oct. 1789 he was elected one of the esquire bedells of the university (Cooper, Annals of Cambridge, iv. 437). He became senior esquire bedell in 1827. In that capacity he received gold chains from three successive chancellors of the university, viz. the Marquis of Camden, 1834, the Duke of Northumberland, 1844, and Prince Albert, 1847.
An advanced whig in politics he took an active part in local politics, was a strenuous supporter of the cause of parliamentary reform, and after the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act was from 1835 to 1841 a member of the town council of Cambridge. In 1847 an accidental fall left him incurably lame. His official connection with the university continued for more than sixty-five years. He was highly esteemed for his courtesy, gentlemanly bearing, and readiness to communicate his extensive knowledge respecting academic ceremonies and privileges. He died at Brighton on 4 Jan. 1854.
He married in 1794 Miss Bertram, whom he survived many years. His eldest son— and the only one who survived him—was Henry Bertram Gunning of Little Shelford, Cambridgeshire, formerly a charity commissioner and an assistant tithe commissioner. Another son, Francis John Gunning, was a solicitor and town clerk of Cambridge from 1836 to 1840; and a third son, Frederick Gunning, was a barrister in extensive practice on the Norfolk circuit, and the author of 'A Practical Treatise on the Law of Tolls,' London, 1833, 8vo.
Gunning's chief literary work was 'Reminiscences of the University, Town, and County of Cambridge from the year 1780' [to 1820], 2 vols. London, 1854, 8vo. Though he did not begin these entertaining sketches until he was more than eighty years old, they betray few marks of senility. The anecdotes of his contemporaries are highly amusing, and his facts are generally accurate. The work was published posthumously; it had been dictated to an amanuensis, Miss M. Beart, who prepared it for publication. Prefixed to the first volume is a portrait of the author, lithographed by Day & Son. A fine portrait of him, in oil, painted by Dr. Woodhouse, is in the possession of Mrs. Cooper of Cambridge, widow of Charles Henry Cooper
