George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer, (1 September 1758 – 10 November 1834), styled Viscount Althorp from 1765 to 1783, was a British
Whig politician. He served as
Home Secretary
The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all nationa ...
from 1806 to 1807 in the
Ministry of All the Talents. He was also the father of
The Venerable Father Ignatius Spencer, a
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 let ...
convert to the priesthood.
Background and education
Lord Spencer was born at
Wimbledon Park, London, the son of
John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer, and his wife
Margaret Georgiana Poyntz, daughter of
Stephen Poyntz, and was baptised there on 16 October 1758. His godparents were
King George II, the
Earl Cowper (his grandmother's second husband) and his great-aunt the Dowager
Viscountess Bateman.
His sister
Lady Georgiana Spencer married the
Duke of Devonshire
Duke of Devonshire is a title in the Peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This (now the senior) branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the wealthiest British aristocratic families since the 16th century and ha ...
and became a famed Whig hostess. He was educated at
Harrow School
Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (sc ...
from 1770 to 1775 and he won the school's ''Silver Arrow'' (an archery prize) in 1771. He then attended
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...
, from 1776 to 1778 and graduated with a
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
. He acceded to the earldom on the death of his father in 1783.
Political career
Lord Spencer was Whig
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
for
Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England ...
from 1780 to 1782 and Whig MP for
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...
from 1782 to 1783. 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 mo ...
in 1794 and served under
William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger (28 May 175923 January 1806) was a British statesman, the youngest and last prime minister of Great Britain (before the Acts of Union 1800) and then first prime minister of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Ir ...
as
Lord Privy Seal
The Lord Privy Seal (or, more formally, the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal) is the fifth of the Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and above the Lord Great Chamberlain. Originally, ...
in 1794 and as
First Lord of the Admiralty from 1794 to 1801. He was later
Home Secretary
The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all nationa ...
from 1806 to 1807 under
Lord Grenville
William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, (25 October 175912 January 1834) was a British Pittite Tory politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1806 to 1807, but was a supporter of the Whigs for the duration of ...
in the
Ministry of All the Talents.
Other public positions
Lord Spencer was also High Steward of
St Albans
St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman ...
from 1783 to 1807, Mayor of St Albans in 1790, President of the
Royal Institution
The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...
from 1813 to 1825 and Commissioner of the
Public Records
Public records are documents or pieces of information that are not considered confidential and generally pertain to the conduct of government.
For example, in California, when a couple fills out a marriage license application, they have the optio ...
in 1831. He became a Fellow of the
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 1780 and a Fellow of the
Society of Antiquaries of London
A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...
in 1785. He was appointed to the
Order of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the Georg ...
in 1799. On 18 February 1793, he was appointed a
deputy lieutenant of Northamptonshire.
Book collecting
Spencer was known for an interest in literature, particularly early examples of printing. He was the instigator and first President of the exclusive, bibliophilic
Roxburghe Club
The Roxburghe Club is a bibliophilic and publishing society based in the United Kingdom.
Origins
The spur to the Club's foundation was the sale of the enormous library of the Duke of Roxburghe (who had died in 1804), which took place over 46 da ...
founded in 1812.
Spencer's tens of thousands of volumes included the most nearly complete collection of
Aldine editions
The Aldine Press was the printing office started by Aldus Manutius in 1494 in Venice, from which were issued the celebrated Aldine editions of the classics (Latin and Greek masterpieces, plus a few more modern works). The first book that was dat ...
ever brought together. It was acquired in 1892 by
Enriqueta Rylands for the
John Rylands Library and catalogued by
Alice Margaret Cooke
Alice Margaret Cooke (18 September 1867 – 26 January 1940) was a British historian and writer. Cooke catalogued the books in the John Rylands Library and she helped in the development of higher education for women in Manchester.
Life
Cooke was ...
.
[Fernanda Helen Perrone, 'Cooke, Alice Margaret (1867–1940)', ]Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 26 December 2015
The manuscripts of Spencer's collection are relatively few; one has pasted into it a St Christopher block print dated 1423.
From 1789 to 1818 Earl Spencer employed Tomaso d'Ocheda, an Italian, as his librarian; he had until 1789 been the librarian of Pierre-Antoine Bolongaro-Crevenna.
When
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
was in the process of the
secularization of religious houses in southern Germany, Spencer used the local British agent and
Benedictine monk,
Alexander Horn Alexander Horn (or Dom Maurus Horn, OSB; 28 June 1762 – 1820), was a Scottish Benedictine monk who became a secret agent and diplomat. His work contributed to the birth of the conspiracy theory of the illuminati.Mark Dilworth, ‘Horn, Alexande ...
, to acquire many of their rare books and manuscripts.
[Mark Dilworth, 'Horn, Alexander (1762–1820)’, ]Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
, Oxford University Press, 2004.
Rev.
Thomas Frognall Dibdin, a Church of England clergyman and bibliographer, wrote the first of many bibliographical works: ''Introduction to the Knowledge of Editions of the Classics'' (1802), which brought him to the notice of Earl Spencer, to whom he owed important aid in his bibliographical pursuits. The rich library at Althorp was thrown open to him; he spent much time there and in 1814–1815 published ''Bibliotheca Spenceriana''. As the library was not open to the public, the information was found useful, but as its author was unable even to read the characters in which the books he described were written, it was marred by errors, as were almost all his productions. In 1818 Dibdin was commissioned by Earl Spencer to buy books for him on the continent, an expedition described in his sumptuous ''Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany'' (1821). He also wrote ''Aedes Althorpianae'', an account of Althorp giving many details of the library.
Family
Lord Spencer married
Lady Lavinia Bingham (1762–1831), daughter of
Charles Bingham, 1st Earl of Lucan, on 6 March 1781.
They had nine children:
*
John Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl Spencer (1782–1845)
*
Lady Sarah Spencer (1787–1870), who married
William Lyttelton, 3rd Baron Lyttelton
William Henry Lyttelton, 3rd Baron Lyttelton MP (3 April 1782 – 30 April 1837) was an English Whig politician from the Lyttelton family.
Early life and education
Born on 3 April 1782, William Lyttelton was the son of William Henry Lyttelto ...
, and had issue
*Hon. Richard Spencer (1789–1791) died in infancy.
*Captain Hon.
Sir Robert Cavendish Spencer (1791–1830), died unmarried at sea.
*Hon. William Spencer (born and died 1792), died in infancy.
*Lady Harriet Spencer (born and died 1793), died in infancy.
*Lady Georgiana Charlotte Spencer (1794–1823), married
Lord George Quin
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or a ...
, son of
Thomas Taylour, 1st Marquess of Headfort, and had issue.
*
Vice-Admiral Frederick Spencer, 4th Earl Spencer (1798–1857)
*Very Reverend Hon. George Spencer (later known as
The Venerable Father Ignatius Spencer (1799–1864), a
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 let ...
convert who was declared
Venerable
The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism.
Christianity
Cat ...
on 20 February 2021
Lady Spencer died in June 1831, aged 68. Lord Spencer survived her by three years and died in November 1834, aged 76, at Althorp, and was buried in the nearby village of
Great Brington on 19 November of that year.
Spencer jacket
The
Spencer, a type of short jacket from which the UK military
mess jacket is derived, is named after George Spencer, reportedly because he had a tail-coat adapted after its tails were burned by coals from a fire.
Coat of arms
Ancestry
See also
*
Spencer Gulf
The Spencer Gulf is the westernmost and larger of two large inlets (the other being Gulf St Vincent) on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, facing the Great Australian Bight. It spans from the Cape Catastrophe a ...
, Australia
References
*
*
External links
*
*Lister, Anthony (1989
"The Althorp Library of Second Earl Spencer, now in the John Rylands University Library of Manchester: its formation and growth".(published in: ''
Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester''; vol. 71, no. 2 (summer 1989), pp. 67–86 )
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, George John Spencer, 2nd Earl
1758 births
1834 deaths
02
British Secretaries of State
Lords Privy Seal
Lords of the Admiralty
English Anglicans
Knights of the Garter
People educated at Harrow School
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
British MPs 1780–1784
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies
English book and manuscript collectors
Mayors of St Albans
Fellows of the Royal Society
Deputy Lieutenants of Northamptonshire
Ambassadors of Great Britain to the Holy Roman Emperor