The Right Honourable The Earl of Ellesmere KG, PC |
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Portrait of the Earl of Ellesmere
by Edwin Longsden Long |
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Chief Secretary for Ireland | |
In office 21 June 1828 – 30 July 1830 |
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Monarch |
George IV William IV |
Prime Minister | The Duke of Wellington |
Preceded by | Hon. William Lamb |
Succeeded by | Sir Henry Hardinge |
Secretary at War | |
In office 30 July 1830 – 15 November 1830 |
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Monarch | William IV |
Prime Minister | The Duke of Wellington |
Preceded by | Sir Henry Hardinge |
Succeeded by | Charles Williams-Wynn |
Personal details | |
Born | 1 January 1800 |
Died | 18 February 1857 (aged 57) |
Nationality | British |
Political party | Tory |
Spouse(s) | Harriet Greville (d. 1866) |
Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere KG, PC (1 January 1800 – 18 February 1857), known as Lord Francis Leveson-Gower until 1833, was a British politician, writer, traveller and patron of the arts.Ellesmere Island, a major island (10th in size among global islands) in Nunavut, the Canadian Arctic, was named after him.
Ellesmere was the second son of George Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland and his wife, Elizabeth Gordon suo jure 19th Countess of Sutherland. He was born at 21 Arlington Street, Piccadilly, London, on 1 January 1800, and educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford.
Egerton entered Parliament in 1822 as member for the pocket borough of Bletchingley in Surrey, a seat he held until 1826. He afterwards sat for Sutherland between 1826 and 1831, and for South Lancashire between 1835 and 1846. In politics he was a moderate Conservative of independent views, as was shown by his support for the proposal to establish a University of London, also by making and carrying a motion for the endowment of the Roman Catholic clergy in Ireland, and by advocating free trade long before Sir Robert Peel yielded on the question. Appointed a Lord of the Treasury in 1827, he held the post of Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1828 till July 1830, when he became Secretary at War for a short time during the last Tory ministry.