Author: Gower, Francis Leveson
Biography:
GOWER, Francis Leveson, later Egerton, later Ellesmere (1800-57: ODNB)
A younger son of George Leveson-Gower (1758-1833), an MP who became the Duke of Sutherland in 1833, and his wife Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland, he was born in London on 1 Jan. 1800 and baptised at St. George’s, Hanover Square, on 24 Jan. He attended Eton college from 1811 to 1814 and matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, on 22 Oct. 1817. He did not take a degree (Oxford created him DCL in 1834) and in Aug. 1819 he joined the Staffordshire regiment of yeomanry as a lieutenant. In Sept. 1819 he was made captain. He was elected MP for Bletchingley, Surrey, in 1822 and later served as MP for Sutherland (1826-34) and South Lancashire (1835-46). On 18 June 1822 at St. George’s he married Harriet Catherine Greville, the granddaughter of the Duke of Portland, at a ceremony attended by the Duke of Wellington among others. She was a minor and was probably born in 1803, the year she was baptised in Buckinghamshire. (Harriet was also an author and published Outlines of Irish History in 1829 and A Journal of a Tour to the Holy Land in 1841.) They had five sons and two daughters. Among the significant government posts that he held was that of secretary to the lord lieutenant of Ireland (1828-30) and, briefly, secretary for war (30 July-30 Nov. 1830). With the death of his father in 1833 he assumed the surname Egerton, having inherited from Francis Egerton, Duke of Bridgewater. He also held important posts outside of government, including president of the Camden Society in 1838, of the British Association at Manchester in 1842, of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1849, and of the Royal Geographical Society, 1854–55. He built a public gallery for his collection of pictures at his home in Cleveland Row, London, and served as a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery. His many publications include plays, poems, translations, and journalism; he also contributed verse to the literary annuals. On 30 June 1846 he was created Viscount Brackley and earl of Ellesmere. He died at Bridgewater House, London, on 18 Feb. 1857 and was buried at Worsley, near Manchester, on 26 Feb. He was survived by Harriet who died on 17 Apr. 1866. (ODNB 18 Oct. 2024; ancestry.co.uk 18 Oct. 2024; findmypast.co.uk 18 Oct. 2024)
Other Names:
- Lord F. L. Gower
- Lord F. Leveson Gower
- Francis Egerton