Author: GROSVENOR, Robert
Biography:
GROSVENOR, Robert (1767-1845: ODNB)
Born at London on 22 Mar. 1767, the poet was the son and heir of baron Richard Grosvenor (titled earl from 1784) and his wife, Henrietta Vernon. Until the king created him marquess of Westminster in 1831, he was from his father’s death in 1802 styled earl Grosvenor and, before that, viscount Belgrave. He received his formal education first at Westminster School (from 1777), then at Harrow School (from 1780), and finally at Trinity College, Cambridge (MA 1786). From 1784 until he reached his majority, he was privately tutored by the shoemaker-poet William Gifford (q.v.), in whose company he toured France, Germany, and Italy from Aug. 1786 to Mar. 1788. In 1791 and 1795, he secured lucrative government sinecures for his tutor; the pair remained friends for the rest of Gifford’s life; and he was present at Gifford’s death. He was MP for East Looe, Cornwall (1788-90) and Chester, Cheshire (1790-1802); Lord of the Admiralty (Aug. 1789 to June 1791); and a commissioner of the Board of Control (June 1793 to May 1801). Originally a Tory, following Pitt’s death he gravitated to the Whigs. On 28 Apr. 1794, he married lady Eleanor Egerton, the only daughter of Thomas, earl of Wilton. There were three sons and one daughter by the marriage. He was, like his rakish father, a habitué of the horse track and the theatre. Yet, unlike his father, he was personally and religiously conservative. He died at his family’s country seat, Eaton Hall, Cheshire, on 17 Feb. 1845. Grosvenor’s contribution to literature was slight. “To the River Dee” and “On Music,” poems in his only known publication, an untitled collection published for private circulation in about 1795, first appeared in The Eaton Chronicle, or, the Salt Box. Privately printed in 20 numbers, The Eaton Chronicle, edited by Gifford, preserves the literary jeu d’esprit in prose and verse of Grosvenor and a set of his friends during their stay at Eaton Hall on 20 Aug. through 25 Sept. 1788. (ODNB 31 Jan. 2025; History of Parliament online 31 Jan. 2025) JC
Other Names:
- Lord Belgrave