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Viscount Ebrington Vanity Fair 19 February 1887

Hugh Fortescue, 4th Earl Fortescue (16 April 1854 – 29 October 1932), styled Viscount Ebrington from 1861 to 1905, was an English

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

from 1881 until 1892 and later in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

having inherited his father's peerages. He was a famous sportsman in the hunting-field.

Origins

Fortescue was the son of

Hugh Fortescue, 3rd Earl Fortescue Hugh Fortescue, 3rd Earl Fortescue DL (4 April 1818 – 10 October 1905), known as Viscount Ebrington from 1841 to 1861, was a British peer and occasional Liberal Party politician. Life He was born in London on 4 April 1818. He was the eld ...

(1818–1905), whose main seat was Castle Hill,

Filleigh Filleigh is a small village, civil parish and former manor in North Devon, on the southern edge of Exmoor, west of South Molton. The village centre's street was, until the 1980s opening of the North Devon Link Road, the main highway between ...

, Devon, by his wife Lady Georgiana Augusta Charlotte Caroline Dawson-Damer, daughter of George Lionel Dawson-Damer and sister of

Lionel Dawson-Damer, 4th Earl of Portarlington Lionel Seymour William Dawson-Damer, 4th Earl of Portarlington (7 April 1832 – 17 December 1892), known as Lionel Dawson-Damer until 1889, was a British peer and Conservative politician. Background Portarlington was the only son of the Hon. ...

. He was known by his courtesy title of Viscount Ebrington until his father's death in 1905, when he inherited the earldom.

Career

Education

He was educated at Harrow School and

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. ...

. At Cambridge, he was treasurer of the

University Pitt Club The University Pitt Club, popularly referred to as the Pitt Club, the UPC, or merely as Club, is a private members' club of the University of Cambridge, with a previously male-only membership but now open to both men and women. History The ...

Local career in Devon

He was a captain in the North Devon Hussar Yeoman Cavalry and became Colonel of the North Devon Yeomanry. He was a J.P. for Devon and for

South Molton South Molton is a town in Devon, England. It is part of the North Devon local government district. The town is on the River Mole. According to the 2001 census the civil parish of South Molton had a population of 4,093, increasing to 5,108 at the ...

, the town close to the family seat of Castle Hill,

. He served as Deputy Lieutenant for Devon and was Lord-Lieutenant of Devon from 1903 to 1928. He was also Chairman of Devon County Council. He was Provincial Grand Master of Freemasons in Devon. He was Master of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds.

National career

He was at one time private secretary to Lord President of the Council Earl Spencer. He was

ADC ADC may refer to: Science and medicine * ADC (gene), a human gene * AIDS dementia complex, neurological disorder associated with HIV and AIDS * Allyl diglycol carbonate or CR-39, a polymer * Antibody-drug conjugate, a type of anticancer treatm ...

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

from 1903 to 1910 and received a KCB in 1911. He was ADC to

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

from 1910 to 1921. He served as president and chairman of the Territorial Force Advisory Council.

Parliamentary career

In 1881 Fortescue was elected as a

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 ...

(MP) for Tiverton and held the seat until 1885 when representation was reduced to one member under the

Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict., c. 23) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that redistributed the seats in the House of Commons, introducing the concept of equal ...

. In 1885 he was elected MP for

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13 ...

. When the Liberals split in 1886 over

Home Rule Home rule is government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governance wit ...

for Ireland, he joined the breakaway

Liberal Unionist The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain, the party established a politic ...

s. He held the seat until 1892.

Purchases Exmoor Forest

When Viscount Ebrington he purchased the reversion of about 20,000 acres comprising the former

royal forest A royal forest, occasionally known as a kingswood (), is an area of land with different definitions in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The term ''forest'' in the ordinary modern understanding refers to an area of wooded land; however, the ...

Exmoor Exmoor is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simonsbath ...

from Sir Frederick Knight (1812–1897) who with his father John Knight (d.1851) had introduced livestock farming to that previously undeveloped and barren moorland. Following the early death of Knight's son Frederick Sebright Winn Knight (1851–1879) in 1879 aged 28, Knight sold the reversion of Exmoor Forest to Ebrington, that is to say he retained a life interest. Ebrington used the residence constructed by

James Boevey James Boevey (1622–1696) (pronounced "Boovey") was an English merchant, lawyer and philosopher of Huguenot parentage. Origins He was born in London at 6 a.m. on 7 May 1622 in Mincing Lane, in the parish of St. Dunstan-in-the-East. He was the ...

in 1654 at

Simonsbath Simonsbath () is a small village high on Exmoor in the English county of Somerset. It is the principal settlement in the Exmoor civil parish, which is the largest and most sparsely populated civil parish on Exmoor, covering nearly but with ...

, ten miles NE of Castle Hill, as a hunting lodge and for his work in continuing agricultural development. He instituted an annual horse show at Exford, which helped to increase the quality of hunters used on Exmoor.Evered, Philip. Staghunting with the Devon and Somerset, An Account of the Chase of the Wild Red Deer, 1902, p.270
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Death and burial

He died at the age of 78.

Marriage and children

Fortescue married his cousin, Hon. Emily Ormsby-Gore, daughter of

William Ormsby-Gore, 2nd Baron Harlech William Richard Ormsby-Gore, 2nd Baron Harlech (3 March 1819 – 26 June 1904), was an Anglo-Irish peer and Member of Parliament. Biography Lord Harlech was the younger son of William Ormsby-Gore and Mary Jane Ormsby. He was educated at Eton ...

, on 15 July 1886. They had three children: *

Hugh William Fortescue, 5th Earl Fortescue Hugh William Fortescue, 5th Earl Fortescue, (14 June 1888 – 14 June 1958), styled Viscount Ebrington from 1905 until 1932, of Castle Hill, Filleigh, Castle Hill in the parish of Filleigh, of Weare Giffard, Weare Giffard Hall, both in Devon ...

(1888–1958) *Geoffrey Faithful Fortescue (1891–1900), died young. *

Denzil George Fortescue, 6th Earl Fortescue Denzil George Fortescue, 6th Earl Fortescue MC TD (13 June 1893 – 1 June 1977) was a British peer and farmer who served in both the First World War and Second World War. Early life and education Fortescue was the third born and second sur ...

(1893–1977)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fortescue, Hugh Fortescue, 4th Earl 1854 births 1932 deaths People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Fortescue,4 Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Lord-Lieutenants of Devon Ebrington, Hugh Fortescue, Viscount Ebrington, Hugh Fortescue, Viscount Ebrington, Hugh Fortescue, Viscount Ebrington, Hugh Fortescue, Viscount Ebrington, Hugh Fortescue, Viscount UK MPs who inherited peerages Members of Devon County Council Royal North Devon Yeomanry officers Hugh,4 Liberal Unionist Party peers Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Tavistock