Edward Harley, 3rd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer ( – 11 April 1755) was a British peer and Member of Parliament. He was the nephew of Britain's First Minister between 1710 and 1714
Robert Harley.
Early life
Harley was the son and heir of Sarah Foley (the third daughter of Thomas Foley of
Witley Court
Witley Court, Great Witley, Worcestershire, England is a ruined Italianate mansion. Built for the Foleys in the seventeenth century on the site of a former manor house, it was enormously expanded in the early nineteenth century by the architect ...
) and
Edward Harley of Eywood, the Auditor of the Imprest and the next younger brother of
Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer
Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, KG PC FRS (5 December 1661 – 21 May 1724) was an English statesman and peer of the late Stuart and early Georgian periods. He began his career as a Whig, before defecting to a new Tory ...
.
Harley was educated at
Westminster School
(God Gives the Increase)
, established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560
, type = Public school Independent day and boarding school
, religion = Church of England
, head_label = Hea ...
and
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...
.
Career
![Brampton Bryan Hall (3450662830)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Brampton_Bryan_Hall_%283450662830%29.jpg)
He was returned to Parliament as the member for
Herefordshire
Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...
in 1727, sitting until 1741.
[ He was known as a ]Hanoverian Tory
Hanoverian Tories were Tory supporters of the Hanoverian Succession of 1714. At the time many Tories favoured the exiled Jacobite James Francis Edward Stuart to take the British and Irish thrones, while their arch rivals the Whigs supported the ...
.[Hill p.231] He vigorously defended the past record of his uncle Robert's governments during Queen Anne's reign.[Hill, Brian W. ''Robert Harley: Speaker, Secretary of State and Premier Minister''. ]Yale University Press
Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous.
, Yale Universi ...
, 1988.
He succeeded his father in 1735 to the Eywood estate at Titley, Herefordshire and his cousin Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer
Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer (2 June 1689 – 16 June 1741), styled Lord Harley between 1711 and 1724, was a British politician, bibliophile, collector and patron of the arts.
Background
Harley was the only son of Rober ...
in 1741 to the earldom and the family seat, Brampton Bryan Hall
Brampton Bryan Hall is a 17th-century English country house in the village of Brampton Bryan, Herefordshire. It is still owned by the descendants of Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, chief minister under Queen Anne and is a Grade II* listed buildin ...
at Brampton Bryan
Brampton Bryan is a small village and civil parish situated in north Herefordshire, England close to the Shropshire and Welsh borders.
Brampton Bryan lies midway between Leintwardine and Knighton on the A4113 road. The nearest station is Bu ...
in Herefordshire.
One of his first acts on succeeding his cousin was to auction off his predecessor's art and coin collection through the auctioneer Cock, at an art sale held under the Piazza, Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...
, on 8 March 1741/2 and the five following days, with six more days being required by the coins. Nearly all the leading men of the day, including Horace Walpole
Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician.
He had Strawb ...
, attended or were represented at this sale, and the prices varied from five shilling
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...
s for an anonymous bishop's "head" to 165 guinea
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
s for van Dyck
Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy.
The seventh c ...
's group of "Sir Kenelm Digby
Sir Kenelm Digby (11 July 1603 – 11 June 1665) was an English courtier and diplomat. He was also a highly reputed natural philosopher, astrologer and known as a leading Roman Catholic intellectual and Blackloist. For his versatility, he is d ...
, lady, and son".
Personal life
On 16 March 1724 or 1725, at St. Anne's Church, Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was develop ...
, he married Martha Morgan, a daughter of Sir John Morgan of Tredegar
Tredegar (pronounced , ) is a town and community situated on the banks of the Sirhowy River in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent, in the southeast of Wales. Within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, it became an early centre of the In ...
and Martha Vaughan (a daughter and co-heiress of Gwyn Vaughan of Trebarried) and the sister of Sir William Morgan
Sir William Morgan, KB (8 March 1700 – 24 April 1731) was a Welsh Whig politician of the early 18th century.
Morgan was the eldest son of Sir John Morgan, a Whig of great political influence in Brecknockshire and Monmouthshire. He in ...
and Sir Thomas Morgan. They had several children:
* Edward Harley, 4th Earl of Oxford (1726–1790), also an MP for Hertfordshire; he married heiress Susannah Archer, a daughter of William Archer William or Bill Archer may refer to:
* William Archer (British politician) (1677–1739), British politician
* William S. Archer (1789–1855), U.S. Senator and Representative from Virginia
* William Beatty Archer (1793–1870), Illinois politician ...
.
* Hon. John Harley (1728–1788), the Bishop of Hereford
The Bishop of Hereford is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Hereford in the Province of Canterbury.
The episcopal see is centred in the Hereford, City of Hereford where the bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is in the Hereford Cathedr ...
who married his cousin Roach Vaughan, daughter of Gwynne Vaughan
Vaughan () (2021 population 323,103) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Regional Municipality of York, just north of Toronto. Vaughan was the fastest-growing municipality in Canada between 1996 and 2006 with its population increas ...
of Trebarried; their son, Edward became 5th Earl of Oxford.
* Hon. Thomas Harley (1730–1804), Lord Mayor of London
The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...
who married Anne Bangham, the daughter of Edward Bangham
Edward is an English language, English given name. It is derived from the Old English, Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements ''wikt:ead#Old English, ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and ''wikt:weard#Old English, weard'' "gua ...
, MP for Leominster
Leominster ( ) is a market town in Herefordshire, England, at the confluence of the River Lugg and its tributary the River Kenwater. The town is north of Hereford and south of Ludlow in Shropshire. With a population of 11,700, Leominster is t ...
.
* Rev. Hon. William Harley (d. 1769).
* Lady Sarah Harvey (d. 1737).
* Lady Martha Harvey, who married Charles Milborne, of The Priory
The Priory Hospital, Roehampton, often referred to as The Priory, is a private mental health hospital in South West London. It was founded in 1872 and is now part of the Priory Group, which was acquired in 2011 by an American private equity firm ...
, Abergavenny
Abergavenny (; cy, Y Fenni , archaically ''Abergafenni'' meaning "mouth of the River Gavenny") is a market town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales. Abergavenny is promoted as a ''Gateway to Wales''; it is approximately from the border wi ...
, in 1764.
Lord Oxford died on 11 April 1755 and was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son Edward
Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”.
History
The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oxford And Mortimer, Edward Harley, 3rd Earl Of
1690s births
1755 deaths
People educated at Westminster School, London
Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
Earls in the Peerage of Great Britain
Harley, Edward
British MPs 1727–1734
British MPs 1734–1741
Edward
Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”.
History
The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...