George Edgcumbe (23 June 1800 – 18 February 1882)
was a British diplomat and politician.
He was the youngest son of
Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...
. He was educated at
Harrow School, and at
Balliol College, Oxford. In 1834, he married Fanny Lucy, daughter of
Sir John Shelley, 6th Baronet
Sir John Shelley, 6th Baronet (18 December 1771 – 28 March 1852) was an English landowner, Member of Parliament and amateur cricketer.
Career
He was the son of Sir John Shelley, 5th Baronet by Wilhelmina, the daughter of John Newnham of Mare ...
; they had 6 children.
At the
general election in June 1826 he was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the
rotten borough
A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorate ...
of
Plympton Erle
Plympton is a suburb of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England. It is in origin an ancient stannary town. It was an important trading centre for locally mined tin, and a seaport before the River Plym silted up and trade moved down river to Pl ...
,
on his father's interest.
However, he
resigned his seat in December that year,
by taking the sinecure of
Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds.
He then became a diplomat, serving in Switzerland, Tuscany, and Hanover.
References
1800 births
1882 deaths
Younger sons of earls
People educated at Harrow School
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Plympton Erle
UK MPs 1826–1830
{{UK-diplomat-stub