George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer

For other people named George Spencer, see George Spencer (disambiguation).

The Right Honourable The Earl Spencer KG PC FRS FSA
Lord Spencer by John Singleton Copley, 1800.
Home Secretary
In office 5 February 1806 – 25 March 1807
Monarch	George III
Prime Minister	The Lord Grenville
Preceded by	The Lord Hawkesbury
Succeeded by	The Lord Hawkesbury
Personal details
Born	(1758-09-01)1 September 1758 Wimbledon Park, London
Died	Althorp, Northamptonshire
Nationality	British
Political party	Whig
Spouse(s)	Lady Lavinia Bingham (1762-1831)
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer KG PC FRS FSA (1 September 1758 – 10 November 1834), styled Viscount Althorp from 1765 to 1783, was a British Whig politician. He notably served as Home Secretary from 1806 to 1807 in the Ministry of All the Talents.

Background and education

Lord Althorp, portrait in oil by Thomas Gainsborough, ca. 1775

Lord Spencer was born at Wimbledon Park, London, the son of John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer, and his wife Margaret Georgiana Poyntz, daughter of Stephen Poyntz, and was baptised there on 16 October 1758. His godparents were King George II, the Earl Cowper (his grandmother's second husband) and his great-aunt the Dowager Viscountess Bateman. His sister Lady Georgiana married the Duke of Devonshire and became a famed Whig hostess. He was educated at Harrow School from 1770 to 1775 and he won the school's Silver Arrow (an archery prize) in 1771. He then attended Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1776 to 1778 and graduated with a Master of Arts. He acceded to the earldom upon the death of his father in 1783.

Political career

Lord Spencer was Whig Member of Parliament for Northampton from 1780 to 1782 and Whig MP for Surrey from 1782 to 1783. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1794 and served under William Pitt the Younger as Lord Privy Seal in 1794 and as First Lord of the Admiralty from 1794 to 1801. He was later Home Secretary from 1806 to 1807 under Lord Grenville in the Ministry of All the Talents.

Other public positions

Lord Spencer was also High Steward of St Albans from 1783 to 1807, Mayor of St Albans in 1790, President of the Royal Institution from 1813 to 1825 and Commissioner of the Public Records in 1831. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1790 and was made a Knight of the Garter in 1799.

Book collecting

Spencer was noted for his interest in literature and particularly in early examples of printing. He was the instigator and first President of the Roxburghe Club (an exclusive bibliophilic club), founded in 1812. When Napoleon instigated the secularization of religious houses in south Germany, Spencer used local British agent and Benedictine monk, Alexander Horn, to acquire many of their rare books and manuscripts.

His collection of tens of thousands of volumes was put up for sale in 1892 and acquired by Enriqueta Rylands for the John Rylands Library and it was indexed by Alice Margaret Cooke.

Family

Lady Lavinia Bingham, 1781 (Joshua Reynolds)

Lord Spencer married Lady Lavinia Bingham (1762–1831), daughter of Charles Bingham, 1st Earl of Lucan, on 6 March 1781. They had nine children:

• John Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl Spencer (1782–1845)
• Lady Sarah Spencer (1787–1870), married William Lyttelton, 3rd Baron Lyttelton, and had issue.
• Hon. Richard Spencer (1789–1791), died in infancy.
• Captain Hon. Sir Robert Cavendish Spencer (1791–1830), died unmarried in Malta.
• Hon. William Spencer (b. & d. 1792), died in infancy.
• Lady Harriet Spencer (b. & d. 1793), died in infancy.

Georgiana Charlotte (Henry Pierce Bone)

• Lady Georgiana Charlotte Spencer (1794–1823), married Lord George Quin, son of Thomas Taylour, 1st Marquess of Headfort, and had issue.
• Vice-Admiral Frederick Spencer, 4th Earl Spencer (1798–1857)
• The Very Reverend Hon. George Spencer (later known as Father Ignatius Spencer (1799–1864), died unmarried.

Lady Spencer died in June 1831, aged 68. Lord Spencer survived her by three years and died in November 1834, aged 76, at Althorp, and was buried in the nearby village of Great Brington on 19 November of that year.

Spencer jacket

The Spencer, a type of short jacket from which the UK military mess jacket is derived, is named for George Spencer, reportedly because he had a tail-coat adapted after its tails were burned by coals from a fire.

Arms

Arms of George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer

Coronet A Coronet of an Earl Crest Out of a Ducal Coronet Or a Griffin's Head Azure gorged with a Bar Gemelle Gules between two Wings expanded of the second Escutcheon Quarterly Argent and Gules in the 2nd and 3rd quarters a Fret Or over all on a Bend Sable three Escallops of the first Supporters Dexter: A Griffin per fess Ermine and Erminois gorged with a Collar Sable the edges flory-counterflory and chained of the last and on the Collar three Escallops Argent; Sinister: A Wyvern Erect on his tail Ermine similarly collared and chained Motto Dieu Defend Le Droit (God defend the right)

Ancestry

Family of George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer

16. Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland               8. Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland                       17. Lady Anne Digby               4. The Hon. John Spencer                             18. John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough               9. Lady Anne Churchill                       19. Sarah Jennings               2. John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer                                   20. George Carteret, 1st Baron Carteret               10. John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville                       21. Lady Grace Granville, 1st Countess Granville               5. Lady Georgina Carolina Carteret                             22. Sir Robert Worsley, 4th Baronet, of Appuldurcombe               11. Frances Worsley                       23. Frances Thynne               1. George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer                                         24. Newdigate Poyntz               12. William Poyntz                       25. Mary Parkyns               6. Stephen Poyntz                             26. Stephen Monteage               13. Jane Monteage                       27. Jane Deane               3. Margaret Georgiana Poyntz                                   28. John Mordaunt, 1st Viscount Mordaunt               14. Hon. Lewis Mordaunt                       29. Elizabeth Carey               7. Anna Maria Mordaunt                             30. Thomas Collyer               15. Mary Collyer                       31. Mary Lunsford

See also

• Spencer Gulf, Australia

References

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer
• Lister, Anthony (1989) "The Althorp Library of Second Earl Spencer, now in the John Rylands University Library of Manchester: its formation and growth". (published in: Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester; vol. 71, no. 2 (summer 1989), pp. 67–86 )

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Hon. Wilbraham Tollemache Sir George Robinson, Bt	Member of Parliament for Northampton with George Rodney 1780–1783	Succeeded by George Rodney The Lord Lucan
Preceded by Sir Joseph Mawbey, Bt Hon. Augustus Keppel	Member of Parliament for Surrey with Sir Joseph Mawbey, Bt 1782–1783	Succeeded by Sir Joseph Mawbey, Bt Sir Robert Clayton, Bt
Political offices
Preceded by The Marquess of Stafford	Lord Privy Seal 1794	Succeeded by The Earl of Chatham
Preceded by The Earl of Chatham	First Lord of the Admiralty 1794–1801	Succeeded by The Earl of St Vincent
Preceded by The Lord Hawkesbury	Home Secretary 1806–1807	Succeeded by The Lord Hawkesbury
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by John Spencer	Earl Spencer 1783–1834	Succeeded by John Charles Spencer