John Joshua Proby, 1st Earl of Carysfort, KP, PC, PC (Ire), FRS (12 August 1751 – 7 April 1828) was a British judge, diplomat, Whig politician and poet.

Background and education

Carysfort was the son of

John Proby, 1st Baron Carysfort John Proby, 1st Baron Carysfort KB PC (25 November 1720 – 18 October 1772) was a British Whig politician. Life He was the son of John Proby, of Elton Hall, Huntingdonshire, and his wife Jane, daughter of John Leveson-Gower, 1st Baron Gow ...

, and the Hon. Elizabeth, daughter of Joshua Allen, 2nd Viscount Allen. 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

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

.Record for ''John Joshua Proby, 1st Earl of Carysfort'' on ''thepeerage.com''
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Political and judicial career

Carysfort succeeded his father as second Baron in 1772. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1779 and made a

Knight of the Order of St Patrick The Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick is a dormant British order of chivalry associated with Ireland. The Order was created in 1783 by King George III at the request of the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, The 3rd Earl Temple (later cre ...

in 1784. In 1789 he was admitted to the Irish Privy Council, created Earl of Carysfort in the

Peerage of Ireland The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divisi ...

and appointed Joint

Master of the Rolls in Ireland The Master of the Rolls in Ireland was a senior judicial office in the Irish Chancery under English and British rule, and was equivalent to the Master of the Rolls in the English Chancery. Originally called the Keeper of the Rolls, he was respons ...

, which he remained until 1801. The office was then generally regarded as a

sinecure A sinecure ( or ; from the Latin , 'without', and , 'care') is an office, carrying a salary or otherwise generating income, that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service. The term originated in the medieval chu ...

. In February 1790 he was returned to 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. ...

for

East Looe East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

, a seat he held until June the same year, and then represented Stamford until 1801. He was also Envoy to Berlin between 1800 and 1802. On 18 February 1793, he was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Northamptonshire. In 1801 he was created Baron Carysfort, of the Hundred of Norman Cross in the County of Huntingdon, in the

Peerage of the United Kingdom The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five Peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union 1800, Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the ...

, which gave him a seat in the

British 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 Westminster in ...

. He served as a Commissioner of the Board of Control and as Joint

Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having a government official respons ...

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 ...

from 1806 to 1807 and was sworn of the

British Privy Council The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of ei ...

in 1806. In 1810 Carysfort published ''Dramatic and Narrative Poems''.

Family

Elton Hall and gardens (geograph 5515547)

Lord Carysfort lived at

Elton Hall Elton Hall is a baronial hall in Elton, Cambridgeshire. It has been the ancestral home of the Proby family (sometime known as the Earls of Carysfort) since 1660. The hall lies in an estate through which the River Nene runs. The building inc ...

, Huntingdonshire, which he inherited from his father. He married, firstly, Elizabeth Osbourne, daughter of

Sir William Osborne, 8th Baronet Sir William Osborne, 8th Baronet, (d. 30 September 1783) was an Irish baronet and politician. Biography The son of Sir John Osborne, 7th Baronet and his wife Editha Proby, he succeeded in the baronetcy on 11 April 1743. Osborne served as Hig ...

, in 1774. They had three sons and one daughter. After Elizabeth's early death in 1783 he married, secondly, Elizabeth Grenville, daughter of Prime Minister

George Grenville George Grenville (14 October 1712 – 13 November 1770) was a British Whig statesman who rose to the position of Prime Minister of Great Britain. Grenville was born into an influential political family and first entered Parliament in 1741 as an ...

, in 1787. They had three daughters. Lord Carysfort died in April 1828, aged 76, and was predeceased by his eldest son,

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, being succeeded in his titles by his second but eldest surviving son

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

. Lady Carysfort died in December 1842, aged 86.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carysfort, John Proby, 1st Earl Of 1751 births 1828 deaths People educated at Westminster School, London Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for constituencies in Cornwall Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1790–1796 British MPs 1796–1800 Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom United Kingdom Postmasters General Deputy Lieutenants of Northamptonshire Knights of St Patrick Fellows of the Royal Society Masters of the Rolls in Ireland UK MPs 1801–1802 Carysfort, E1 UK MPs who were granted peerages Earls of Carysfort