William Courtenay, 11th Earl of Devon

Background and education

Devon was the eldest son of William Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon and his first wife Harriet Leslie Pepys, daughter of Sir Lucas Pepys, 1st Baronet. He was educated at Westminster School and at Christ Church, Oxford, and was called to the Bar, Lincoln's Inn, in 1832.

Political career

In 1841 Devon was elected to Parliament for South Devon as a Tory. However, when the Tories split over the Corn Laws in 1846, he joined the Peelites. In 1849 Devon was appointed poor-law inspector and retired from the House of Commons. He then served as secretary to the Poor Law Board from 1850 to 1859. The latter year he succeeded his father and took his seat in the House of Lords.

He had returned to the Conservative Party (the official name of the Tory Party since the 1850s) before his succession, and when the party came to power in 1866 under the Earl of Derby, Devon was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (although without a seat in the cabinet) and admitted to the Privy Council. He remained in this post until May the following year, when he became President of the Poor Law Board. However, in contrast to his predecessor in the post, Gathorne Hardy, he was not included in the cabinet this time either. Devon continued as President of the Poor Law Board until the Conservatives lost power in December 1868. After this he stopped taking an active part in politics.

Apart from his participation in national politics, Devon was heavily involved in local affairs and charitable causes in his home county of Devon. Regarded as the most influential man in the county, he notably served as a director and later as chairman of the Bristol and Exeter Railway. Known as "the good earl", a statue of him was erected in Exeter, paid for by public subscription. Lord Courtenay was a member of the Canterbury Association from 27 March 1848 until 21 April 1852, when he resigned.

Marriage and progeny

In 1830 Lord Devon married Lady Elizabeth Fortescue (d. 27 January 1867), daughter of Hugh Fortescue, 1st Earl Fortescue. Her tomb-chest with full-length recumbent alabaster effigy by Edward Bowring Stephens is situated in St Clement's Church, Powderham, against the east wall of the south transept, with a plaster-cast in the chapel attached to Powderham Castle, in an ogee arched alcove in the north wall of the chancel. They had three sons and one daughter. He was succeeded in the earldom by his youngest but only surviving son Edward:

Death & burial

Lord Devon died at his seat of Powderham Castle in November 1888, aged 81.

Painting

An oil painting of the 11th Earl hangs at Powderham Castle, high on the south wall of the Dining Hall.

Statue

A bronze statue was made of the Earl by the Exeter sculptor Edward Bowring Stephens and in October 1880 was erected at the front of the central garden in Bedford Circus, Exeter, on the spot where Stephens' "The Deer Stalker" had formerly stood. (The latter statue now stands near the Earl's statue, both having been re-located in Northernhay Gardens). The unveiling ceremony was attended by Sir Stafford Northcote (1818-1887), later Lord Lieutenant of Devon 1886-7, (whose own statue in Northernhay Gardens now stands nearby) with the Mayor and Corporation, other dignitaries and the Earl himself. The statue was paid for by public subscription to the Devon Statue Fund, which had attracted 1,300 signatories for this work. A banquet was held following the unveiling ceremony. The plinth is of Cornish granite from the Cheesewring Quarries, on the rear of which a bronze plaque is affixed inscribed with verse from Wordworth's Happy Warrior:

"Who not content that former worth stand fast,
Looks forward persevering to the last,
From well to better daily self-surpast."

Although the Circus was destroyed by German bomb damage in World War II, in May 1942, the statue survived intact. It was thereafter hidden from view in storage at Tan Lane until the 1950s when it was re-erected in Bedford Street. A bronze plaque on the front of the plinth is inscribed:

"This statue stood in Bedford Circus prior to World War II. The statue was erected on this site (i.e. Bedford Street) by Exeter City Council and Devon County Council as part of a joint landscaping scheme".

Following the re-development of Princesshay in 2005 which involved the partial demolition of Bedford Street, the statue was again removed to storage in the Belle Isles council yard. It underwent restoration by Ian Clarke Restoration, including cleansing of graffiti, and was re-erected in Northernhay Gardens. The unveiling ceremony occurred on 9 February 2010, attended this time by only a small handful of interested parties, including the then Earl of Devon and the Lord Mayor, John Winterbottom. Its last move is recorded by an inscription on a granite slab on the ground at the front of the plinth: "Lord Devon was moved in 2010 to Northernhay Gardens from Bedford St".

Memorial Chimneypiece at Powderham

The 11th Earl installed a heraldic chimneypiece in the Dining Hall at Powderham Castle in memory of his grandfather Reginald Courtenay (1741-1803), Bishop of Exeter from 1797 to 1803, and of his parents. The Dining Hall was built by his father the 10th Earl between 1847 and his death in 1859 and the 11th Earl completed the internal decorations in 1860 including the linen-fold panelling containing several dozen ancestral heraldic shields. It is copied from the mediaeval chimneypiece in the Bishop's Palace, Exeter, installed c. 1485 by Peter Courtenay (d.1492) Bishop of Exeter, a younger son of Sir Philip Courtenay (1404-1463) of Powderham. The armorials on the lowest row are from left to right: