Succeeded by The Lord Cathcart | Preceded by Charles Stuart Name Granville 1st | |
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Preceded by Sir John Borlase Warren, Bt Preceded by The Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale Succeeded by The Lord Stuart de Rothesay | ||
Succeeded by The Viscount Cathcart | ||
Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Granville GCB PC (12 October 1773 – 8 January 1846), known as Lord Granville Leveson-Gower from 1786 to 1815, as Viscount Granville from 1815 to 1833, and as Earl Granville from 1833 onwards, was a British Whig statesman and diplomat from the Leveson-Gower family.
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Background and education
Granville was the second son and youngest child of Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford from his marriage to Lady Susanna Stewart, daughter of Alexander Stewart, 6th Earl of Galloway. His elder, paternal half-brother was George Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland.
Granville was educated at Dr. Kyle's school at Hammersmith, and then privately by the Revd. John Chappel Woodhouse. He matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford, in April 1789 but never took a degree. Nevertheless, ten years later, in 1799, the honorary degree of DCL was conferred upon him.
Career
Granville began his career as a member of the House of Commons, representing Lichfield from 1795 to 1799, and Staffordshire for the next sixteen years. Granville served as British ambassador to Russia (10 August 1804 – 28 November 1805 and 1806–1807) and France (1824–1828, 1830–1835, 1835–1841).
In 1815, he was raised to the peerage as Viscount Granville of Stone Park in the County of Stafford. In 1833, during his second stint as ambassador to France, he was created Earl Granville and also Baron Leveson of Stone Park in the County of Stafford.
Personal life
A recent historian says that Granville "was a drab figure, the original stuffed-shirt – starch outside, sawdust within."
Lord Granville married Lady Harriet Cavendish (1785–1862), daughter of William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire and Lady Georgiana Spencer, in 1809. They had two sons and two daughters. Their eldest son, Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville, became a distinguished politician. Their second son the Hon. Frederick Leveson-Gower was also a politician. Their daughter Lady Georgiana married Alexander Fullerton. She was a biographer, novelist and great philanthropist. Lord Granville died in January 1846, aged 72. The Countess Granville died in November 1862, aged 77.
Lord Granville, prior to marrying Lady Harriet Cavendish, was the lover of Lady Harriet's maternal aunt, Henrietta Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough, née Lady Henrietta Frances Spencer, with whom he fathered two illegitimate children: Harriette Stewart and George Stewart. For seventeen years she "loved to idolatry" this younger man, but then, she understood that he must marry in order to further his career and assure his posterity, and so she actively collaborated in the arrangements for his wedding to Harriet (known in the family as "Harry-O"), who was understandably reluctant to marry her aunt's lover.