Hugh Fortescue, 2nd Earl Fortescue
The Earl Fortescue | |
|---|---|
 Fortescue, engraving by W. Holl from a painting byGeorge Hayter | |
| Lord Lieutenant of Ireland | |
| In office 13 March 1839 – 11 September 1841 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | The Viscount Melbourne |
| Preceded by | The Marquess of Normanby |
| Succeeded by | The Earl de Grey |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 13 February 1783 |
| Died | 14 September 1861(aged 78) |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Whig |
| Spouse(s) | (1) Lady Susan Ryder (1796–1827) (2) Elizabeth Geale (c. 1805–1896) |
| Children | Hugh Fortescue, 3rd Earl Fortescue John Fortescue Dudley Fortescue |
| Parent(s) | Hugh Fortescue, 1st Earl Fortescue Hester Grenville |
| Alma mater | Brasenose College, Oxford |
Hugh Fortescue, 2nd Earl FortescueKG,PC(13 February 1783 – 14 September 1861), styledViscount Ebringtonfrom 1789 to 1841, was a BritishWhigpolitician.
He wasLord Lieutenant of Irelandfrom 1839 to 1841.
Early life[edit]
Fortescue was the eldest son ofHugh Fortescue, 1st Earl Fortescue,and Hester Grenville, daughter of Prime MinisterGeorge Grenville.He was educated atEtonandBrasenose College, Oxford.[1]
Career[edit]
Fortescue (as Ebrington) first became an MP forBarnstaple,just after his 21st birthday; and he sat for various constituencies almost continuously until 1839, when he was summoned to theHouse of Lordsthrough awrit of accelerationin his father's junior title of Baron Fortescue.[1]
Ebrington had entered Parliament in the 1800s as aGrenvilliteconnection, belonging to that section of theWhig partythat supported the war withNapoleon;but in the following decade (in a generational shift) he broke away from them to join theYoung Whigs.[2]Fearing the corruptive effects of militarism on British society,[3]the latter sympathised with the liberalising side of theFrench Revolution:Ebrington would later publish his conversations with Napoleon in his Elba exile.[4]
After the war, in 1817, Ebrington confirmed his breach with the bulk of his Grenville relatives,[5]and emerged as a prominent pro-Reform Whig—albeit one somewhat unusually rooted in a liberal, morally intense Anglicanism,[6]—which he combined with an interest in political economy.[7]Ebrington strongly condemned theSix Actsas” the most alarming attack ever made by Parliament upon the liberties and constitution of the country”;[8]and during the 1820s, he would repeatedly promote and vote for Parliamentary Reform.[5]
When the Whigs finally came to power in 1830, Ebrington played a significant part in the passing of theGreat Reform Act.After the Commons passed the second bill, Ebrington convened a meeting of 100 reformist Whigs, urging strong measures should the Lords reject it, and acting as leader of a pressure group lobbying the Whig leadership: Ebrington himself appeared on a list of potential peer-creations that was drawn up to increase the pressure on the Lords.[9]When the Government resigned in the face of Tory intransigence in the House of Lords, Ebrington took the lead, despite leadership hesitations, in moving that the House of Commons implore the King “to call to his councils such persons only as will carry into effect unimpaired in all its essential provisions that Bill for reforming the Representation of the people which has recently passed this House”.[10]
During the 1830s, Ebrington led a strong body of Reformist Whigs;[5]and he played a prominent role in establishing Whig party organisation under the new electoral system.[11]In 1839, as Baron Fortescue, he served underLord MelbourneasLord Lieutenant of Ireland,[12]until in 1841 he succeeded his father in the earldom. He went on to serve underLord John RussellasLord Stewardfrom 1846 to 1850; was sworn of thePrivy Councilin 1839; and created aKnight of the Garterin 1856.[1]
Fortescue was alsoColonelof the1st Devon Militia,headquartered inExeter Castle.[1]
West Buckland School[edit]
In 1858, together with the Rev.Joseph Lloyd Brereton,aprebendaryofExeter Cathedraland Rector of West Buckland, Fortescue founded the Devon County School (now calledWest Buckland School), on land he donated betweenWestandEast Buckland,previously part of his North Devon estate centred atFilleigh.The school was intended to provide a top quality education to local boys, including therefore the sons of many of his tenant farmers; it continues today as an independent private school. A marble bust of Fortescue, wearing theGarter Star,sculpted in 1861 byEdward Bowring Stephens,stands on the staircase of the school's Memorial Hall.[1]
Personal life[edit]
Fortescue married firstly in 1817 Susan Ryder (died 1827), a daughter ofDudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby.They had three sons:[1]
- Hugh Fortescue, 3rd Earl Fortescue(1818–1905)
- Hon.John Fortescue,MP
- Hon.Dudley Fortescue,MP
In 1841, fourteen years after the death of his first wife, Fortescue married secondly Elizabeth Geale (died May 1896), a daughter of Piers Geale and the widow ofSir Marcus Somerville, 4th Baronet(c. 1775–1831).[1]
Fortescue died in September 1861, aged 78, and was succeeded by his eldest son from his first marriage, Hugh Fortescue.[1]
Portraits[edit]
A statue of Fortescue stands in Exeter Castle Yard, and his marble bust is displayed on the staircase of the Memorial Hall in West Buckland School. 49 of the Fortescue family portraits were saved from the disastrous fire at Castle Hill of 9 March 1934 with minor smoke damage, but were shortly afterwards all destroyed by fire when the delivery lorry returning them from the restorer caught fire whilst parked overnight pending their return to Castle Hill.[13]
Arms[edit]
Fortescue'scoat of armsisblazonedazure, a bend engrailled argent plain cottised or,and the Motto isForte Scutum Salus Ducum( "A Strong Shield is the Salvation of Leaders" ).[14]
Gallery[edit]
-
Arms of Fortescue -
FromIllustrated London News:"Inauguration of the Fortescue Memorial in the Castle Yard, Exeter 1863" -
Foundation stone laid at West Buckland School by Earl Fortescue -
"Devon County School, West Buckland, recently opened by Earl Fortescue",Illustrated London News,1861 -
Portrait of Hugh Fortescue when Viscount Ebrington, painted between 1826–1841 by Frederick Christian Lewis Sr, after Joseph Slater. National Portrait Gallery, London, NPG D20597
Sources[edit]
References[edit]
- ^abcdefgh"Fortescue" in Rosemary Lauder,Devon Families(Tiverton, 2002), pp. 75–82
- ^B. Hilton,A Mad, Bad and Dangerous People?(Oxford 2006) p. 205
- ^E. A. Wasson,Whig Renaissance(Garland 1987) p. 64
- ^M. Zarzeizny, 'Mmeteors that Enlighten the Earth(2012) p. 147
- ^abcFortescue, Hugh
- ^R. Brown,Church and State in Modern Britain(2002) p. 236
- ^B. Hilton,A Mad, Bad and Dangerous People?(Oxford 2006) p. 205 and p. 521-3
- ^E. Wasson,A History of Modern Britain(2016) p. 141
- ^E. Pearce,Reform!(London 2003) p. 167 and p. 238
- ^Quoted in E. Pearce,Reform!(London 2003) p. 284
- ^P. Gray,Famine, Land and Politics(1999) p. 20
- ^E. Halevy,The Triumph of Reform(London 1961) p. 198
- ^Lauder, R., op. cit., p. 81
- ^Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p.461
External links[edit]
- Lords Lieutenant of Ireland
- Earls in the Peerage of Great Britain
- Founders of English schools and colleges
- Knights of the Garter
- 1783 births
- 1861 deaths
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Barnstaple
- Lord-Lieutenants of Devon
- Fellows of the Royal Society
- UK MPs 1802–1806
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- UK MPs who inherited peerages
- Fortescue family
- People educated at Eton College
- Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Devon
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Tavistock
- Devon Militia officers
- Committee members of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge