Lord Robert Spencer

Lord Robert Spencer (1747–1831), was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons several times between 1768 and 1818.

Spencer was the son of Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough and his wife the Hon. Elizabeth Trevor, daughter of Thomas Trevor, 2nd Baron Trevor, and was born on 8 May 1747. He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford on 10 April1762 and was awarded MA on 6 May 1765. From 1766 to 1768 he undertook a Grand Tour through Austria, Italy and France.

At the 1768 general election Spencer was returned as Member of Parliament for on the Marlborough interest. He was appointed a Lord of Trade in April 1770 but did not attend the Board regularly nor parliament itself. He resigned his seat in January 1771 and was elected MP for Oxford in a by election on 31 January 1771. He was returned for Oxford in 1774 and 1780. Spencer was an inveterate gambler and having lost his official salary found himself in financial difficulties around 1781, until he was admitted to a twelfth share in Fox’s faro bank at Brooks’s, with a fee of five or six guineas an hour. He was an ardent supporter of Fox throughout his career and after. In 1784 he was returned again for Oxford. The circle surrounding Fox, included Edward Bouverie, a fellow habitue of Brook’s and his younger wife Harriet, the daughter of Sir Everard Fawkener, K.B. She was a society hostess and actively campaigned for the Whigs. She became Spencer’s mistress and the youngest Bouverie child, Diana, born in 1786 was acknowledged as a Bouverie but was referred to as “the tell-tale Bouverie, for there never was such a perfect indisputable Spencer, Lord Robert’s walking picture and the very prettiest creature that ever was seen”.

Spencer was a member of a subscription committee set up to raise funds to support the Whigs in the forthcoming general election. He remained active in fund-raising appeals for the party for many years afterwards. In consequence the Duke of Marlborough replaced him as candidate for Oxford in 1790. Fox may have intended a seat for Winchelsea for him, but nothing transpired. He did not want to spent £3,000 to buy a seat at Wootton Bassett or risk an expensive contest at Evesham,and did not want to be a liability on his party.

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