Francis Hastings, 10th Earl of Huntingdon PC (13 March 1729 – 2 October 1789) was a British

peer Peer may refer to: Sociology * Peer, an equal in age, education or social class; see Peer group * Peer, a member of the peerage; related to the term "peer of the realm" Computing * Peer, one of several functional units in the same layer of a ne ...

and politician.

Life

He was the eldest of seven children of the 9th Earl of Huntingdon and his wife, Lady Selina, a leader of the Methodist evangelical revival. Hastings was eighteen when he succeeded as

Earl of Huntingdon Earl of Huntingdon is a title which has been created several times in the Peerage of England. The medieval title (1065 creation) was associated with the ruling house of Scotland ( David of Scotland). The seventh and most recent creation dates t ...

and Baron Botreaux on his father's demise in 1746. The earl never married but did father an illegitimate son,

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

, by a

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

ian girl named Mademoiselle Lany, a dancer at the Opera whilst on his

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tut ...

with his friend David Murray, 7th Viscount Stormont in 1747 (which was sponsored by the 4th Earl of Chesterfield). In August 1752, Huntingdon left Paris for Spain, where his self-importance irritated the British minister,

Sir Benjamin Keene Sir Benjamin Keene (1697–1757) was a British diplomat, who was British Ambassador to Spain from 1729 to 1739, then again from 1748 until his death in Madrid in December 1757. He has been described as "by far the most prominent British agent in ...

. He visited Gibraltar (April 1753) and Lisbon (May 1753) before returning to England in early July 1753. The following July, he left England for a second, two-year tour of the continent. In Italy, he studied antiquities with the antiquarian Antonio Cocchi (a friend of his late father), as well as Joseph Wilton and the Abbé Venuti. On his return from

the continent Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...

, Hastings did well at the

Royal Court A royal court, often called simply a court when the royal context is clear, is an extended royal household in a monarchy, including all those who regularly attend on a monarch, or another central figure. Hence, the word "court" may also be appl ...

, as a descendant of

George, Duke of Clarence George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence (21 October 144918 February 1478), was the 6th son of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, and the brother of English kings Edward IV and Richard III. He played an important role in t ...

, brother of King

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in Englan ...

, seemed to assure him and he was appointed

Master of the Horse Master of the Horse is an official position in several European nations. It was more common when most countries in Europe were monarchies, and is of varying prominence today. (Ancient Rome) The original Master of the Horse ( la, Magister Equitu ...

in 1760. He was a Bearer of the Sword of State at George III's

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of o ...

in 1761, though the Sword of State itself was mislaid and he instead had to carry the

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 pow ...

's Pearl Sword. He became

Groom of the Stole The Groom of the Stool (formally styled: "Groom of the King's Close Stool") was the most intimate of an English monarch's courtiers, responsible for assisting the king in excretion and hygiene. The physical intimacy of the role naturally led to ...

, also in 1761. In particular, the Earl of Chesterfield, oversaw each step in the social and intellectual education of young Huntingdon, whom he praised as "the bright exemplar of the union of a scholar with the man of the world." In 1762, he incorrectly announced to the King that his first-born child ( Prince George) by the Queen was a girl. The error was doubly unfortunate at the time, as the King had hoped for a male heir and he also promised £1,000 to the bearer of the news that he had a son and £500 that he had a girl (Huntingdon did not receive either). In 1766, he launched a claim to the royal Dukedom of Clarence that preoccupied him for the rest of his life. He died suddenly on 2 October 1789, at the

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

house of his nephew,

Francis Rawdon Francis Edward Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings, (9 December 175428 November 1826), styled The Honourable Francis Rawdon from birth until 1762, Lord Rawdon between 1762 and 1783, The Lord Rawdon from 1783 to 1793 and The Earl of Moira b ...

. On his death in 1789, the earldom became dormant. He was succeeded in the baronies of Hastings, Hungerford, de Moleyns and Botreaux by his sister Lady Elizabeth, wife of

John Rawdon, 1st Earl of Moira John Rawdon, 1st Earl of Moira (17 March 1720 – 20 June 1793), known as Sir John Rawdon, Bt, between 1724 and 1750 and as The Lord Rawdon between 1750 and 1762, was an Irish peer. Background Rawdon was the only son of Sir John Rawdon, 3rd Baro ...

. Huntingdon was 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 knowledge, including mathemati ...

in 1758 and of the Society of Antiquaries in 1768.

Citations

References

Record for ''Francis Hastings, 10th Earl of Huntingdon'' on ''thepeerage.com''
* David, Saul (1998), ''The Prince of Pleasure'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Huntingdon, Francis Hastings, 10th Earl of 1729 births 1789 deaths Francis Hastings, 10th Earl of Huntingdon Hastings, Francis Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London 10 Grooms of the Stool Barons Hastings Barons Botreaux Barons Hungerford Lord-Lieutenants of the West Riding of Yorkshire Court of George III of the United Kingdom