The Right Honourable The Earl Spencer KG PC DL FRS FSA |
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Lord Spencer by John Singleton Copley, 1800.
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Home Secretary | |
In office 5 February 1806 – 25 March 1807 |
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Monarch | George III |
Prime Minister | The Lord Grenville |
Preceded by | The Lord Hawkesbury |
Succeeded by | The Lord Hawkesbury |
Personal details | |
Born |
Wimbledon Park, London |
1 September 1758
Died | 10 November 1834 Althorp, Northamptonshire |
(aged 76)
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 DL 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.
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.