Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 5.djvu/19

LANSDOWNE. 17 LANSDOWNE. Marquessate, l. William (Petti-), Earl of Shelburxe [175.3], I 17Si Viscount Fitzmaurice [17511 and Baron DtniKBBOH T1751], iu the peerage of Ireland, also Lord Wycombe, Baron op Chii-pino Wycombe [1700], in the peerage of Great Britain, s. and h. of John (Petty, formerly Kitzmauhice), Marl ok Shei-buhne, &c, by Mary, <la of William Fitzmaurice, of Gallaue, co. Kerry, was b. 2 and bap. 13 May 1737 ; »ti/M Viscount Fitzmai-rice. 1753-01 ; mat. at Oxford (Oh. Ch.), 11 March 1755; entered tin; Army, 1757, in which he finally (17S3) became General; was M.P, for Chipping Wycombe, May 1700 to 10 May 1701, when lie sue. to the peerage ; P.O., 1763; President of the Hoard of Trade and a Cabinet Minister, April to Sep. 1703; took his seat in the Irish House of Lords, 25 April 1701 ; Sec. of State for the south, 1700-6S; Foreign Sec, March 1782; K.G., 19 April 17S2,(«) being inst., 9 May 1S01 : First Lord of the Treasury (Prime Minister), 13 July 17S2, to 24 Feb. 1783,( h ) and was re, 6 Dee. 17S4, VISCOUNT CALNE AND CALSTON, co. Wilts, RAUL WYCOMBE OP CHOPPING WYCOMBE, and MARQUESS OP LANS- DOWNE,( c ) co. Somerset. Ho m. firstly, 3 Feb. 1705, at the Chapel Koyal, St. James', Sophia, da. of John (Carteret), Earl QraNVILLB, by his second wife, Sophia, da. of Thomas (Fermoh), EaIU, of Pomkret. She, who was b. 26 Aug. 1745, d. "i Jan 1771, aged 25, and was bur. at Bowood. He in. secondly, 19 July 1779, at St. George's. Bloomsbury, Louisa, da. of John (KitzPatuick), 1st Earl ok Ul'PER OssORY fl.J, by Evelyn, da. of John (Levkson-Goweh), 1st Eari. Cower. She, who was 4. 1755, cl. 7 Aug. 1789. He d. 7 May 1S05, aged 08, at his house(' 1 ) in Berkeley square and was bin: at High Wycombe. Will pr. ]S05.( L ') II. 1805. 2. John' IIexry (Petty), Marquess of Lansdowne, &c, also Earl ok Shklrurne, &c. [I. |, s. and h., being 1st, but only surv. s. by first wife ; 6. 6 Dec. 1705 : styled Viscount Fitzmaurice. till 17S4, and ati/led Earl or Wycomrk, 17S4-1S05 ; er, M.A. of Oxford (Ch. Ch.), 12 July 1785 :M.P.*for Chipping Wycombe, 17SG-1S05 ; sue. to the peerage, 7 May 1805. He m. 27 May 1805, by spec. lie. at the house of Messrs. Le Neufville and Taverner, 23 Mount (") Of the four unappropriated Garters at. the time of Lord North's resignation the new Ministers allowed one to Prince William Henry and reserved three for them- selves and never (said the Prince of Wales) did three men receive the Order in so dissimilar and characteristic a manner. " The Dnke of Devonshire advanced up to the Sovereign with his pblematie cold, awkward air, like a clown ; Lord Shelbume came forward, bowing on every side, smiling and fawning like a courtier: the Dnke of Richmond presented himself easy, uneinbarassed and with dignity, like a gentle- man." [tt'raxall's "Memoir*."] (") It was generally supposed that when the " Coalition Ministry " (Lord North and Fox) was displaced by William Pitt in Dec. 1783 that he would have held a leading place in the next administration. His past services were, indeed, rewarded with a Marquessate, but he thenceforth retired from public affairs. He was, tho' he "wanted no external quality requisite to captivate or conciliate mankind," suspected " of systematic duplicity and insincerity," being given " the epithet of Malagrida from the name of a Portuguese Jesuit well known in the modem history of that kingdom." [Wraxall's " Memoirs."] ( c ) This title appears to have been selected by the grantee because his first wife (then deceased) Lady Sophia Carteret was grandaughter of Grace, sun jure Countess Granville, da. of John, 1st Earl of Hath, Viscount Granville of Lansdown. &c, and grandaughter of Sir Bevill Granville, the hero of the battle of Lansdown. See p. 10, note "a." The descent, however, of any Marquess of Lansdowne from the Granville family applies only to the 2d Peer, and that too during the short space (1805-09) of under five years. ( d ) Lansdowne (formerly Shelbume) House, forming the whole of the south side of Berkeley square, was pui chased (from the Marquees of Bute) by the 1st Marquess of Lansdowne (when Karl of Shelbume) in 1765 for £22,000 in an unfinished state, being about £3,000 lesB than the building of it had already cost. (°) His entailed estates in England and Ireland amounted to more than £35,000 a year, but £10,000 per annum and nearly £100,000 in specie are willed to his son Lord Henry Petty." [Ann. Reg., 1805.] C