George James Welbore Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover PC FRS FSA (14 January 179710 July 1833) was a British politician and man of letters. He was briefly

First Commissioner of Woods and Forests The Commissioners of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues were established in the United Kingdom in 1810 by merging the former offices of Surveyor General of Woods, Forests, Parks, and Chases and Surveyor General of the Land Revenues of the Crown into ...

under Lord Grey between 1830 and 1831.

Background and education

Agar-Ellis was the only son of

Henry Agar-Ellis, 2nd Viscount Clifden Henry Welbore Agar-Ellis, 2nd Viscount Clifden SA (22 January 1761 – 13 July 1836), styled The Honourable Henry Agar between 1776 and 1789, was an Irish politician. Background Born Henry Welbore Agar at Gowran Castle, Gowran, Co. Kilkenny, I ...

, and Lady Caroline, daughter of George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough. He 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 ...

. He was elected a Fellow of both the Society of Antiquaries and

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1816.thepeerage.com George James Welbore Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover
/ref>

Political career

Agar-Ellis was returned to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

for Heytesbury in 1818, a seat he held until 1820. He afterwards represented Seaford between 1820 and 1826, Ludgershall between 1826 and 1830 and

Okehampton Okehampton ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. It is situated at the northern edge of Dartmoor, and had a population of 5,922 at the 2011 census. Two electoral wards are based i ...

between 1830 and 1831. He supported

George Canning George Canning (11 April 17708 August 1827) was a British Tory statesman. He held various senior cabinet positions under numerous prime ministers, including two important terms as Foreign Secretary, finally becoming Prime Minister of the Unit ...

's motion in 1822 for a bill to relieve the disabilities of

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

peers, and consistently supported liberal principles. He took little interest in party politics but was a strong advocate of state support for the causes of literature and the fine arts. In 1824 Agar-Ellis was the leading promoter of the grant of £57,000 for the purchase of John Julius Angerstein's collection of pictures, which formed the foundation of the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

. On the formation of Lord Grey's Whig administration in November 1830, he was sworn of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

and appointed

. However, he was forced to resign after two months due to bad health. In June 1831, during his father's lifetime, Agar-Ellis was raised to the peerage as Baron Dover, of Dover in the County of Kent. He was president of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

in 1832, a trustee of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

and of the National Gallery, and a commissioner of public records.

Family

Georgiana Agar Ellis, attributed to Joseph Lee

Lord Dover married his

third cousin once removed Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

Lady Georgiana Howard, daughter of George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle, in 1822. They had two sons, who became respectively the 3rd Viscount and 5th Viscount, and two daughters. He died on 10 July 1833, aged only 36, predeceasing his father by three years. Lady Dover died in March 1860.

Works

Lord Dover's works were chiefly historical, and include: * ''The True History of the State Prisoner, Commonly Called the Iron Mask'' (1826) * ''Inquiries respecting the Character of Clarendon'' (1827) * a ''Life of Frederick II.'' (1831) He also edited the ''Ellis Correspondence'' (1829) and ''Walpole's Letters to Sir Horace Mann'' (1833).

References

;Attribution *

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dover, George James Welbore Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron 1797 births 1833 deaths Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies English non-fiction writers People educated at Westminster School, London People associated with the National Gallery, London UK MPs 1818–1820 UK MPs 1820–1826 UK MPs 1826–1830 UK MPs 1830–1831 UK MPs who were granted peerages Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Presidents of the Royal Society of Literature Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Peers of the United Kingdom created by William IV Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Heirs apparent who never acceded English male non-fiction writers Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Okehampton Committee members of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge