George Guy Greville, 4th Earl of Warwick, 4th Earl Brooke (28 March 1818 – 2 December 1893), styled Lord Brooke from 1818 to 1853, was an English

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...

politician, bibliophile and collector.

Early life

Greville was born in Charles Street,

Berkeley Square Berkeley Square is a garden square in the West End of London. It is one of the best known of the many squares in London, located in Mayfair in the City of Westminster. It was laid out in the mid 18th century by the architect William Ke ...

, London. He was the only child of Henry Greville, 3rd Earl of Warwick, and the former Lady Sarah Elizabeth Savile, eldest daughter of

John Savile, 2nd Earl of Mexborough John Savile, 2nd Earl of Mexborough (8 April 1761 – 3 February 1830), styled Viscount Pollington between 1766 and 1778, was a British peer and politician. Background Mexborough was the son of John Savile, 1st Earl of Mexborough, and Sarah (n ...

. He was educated at St John's College, Oxford, from where he obtained a BA in 1839.

Career

He was

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 South Warwickshire from 1845 to 1853, when he succeeded to the peerage. He served as honorary colonel to the

Warwickshire Yeomanry The Warwickshire Yeomanry was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1794, which served as cavalry and machine gunners in the First World War and as a cavalry and an armoured regiment in the Second World War, before being amalg ...

cavalry, and as A.D.C. to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

.Burke, Sir Bernard, (1938 ed) ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage''. Shaw, London. p.2519 He joined the

Canterbury Association The Canterbury Association was formed in 1848 in England by members of parliament, peers, and Anglican church leaders, to establish a colony in New Zealand. The settlement was to be called Canterbury, with its capital to be known as Christchurch ...

on 11 February 1850 and was, from the day of joining, a member of the management committee.

Collector

Lord Warwick was also a prolific contributor to the improvements of

Warwick Castle Warwick Castle is a medieval castle developed from a wooden fort, originally built by William the Conqueror during 1068. Warwick is the county town of Warwickshire, England, situated on a meander of the River Avon. The original wooden motte-an ...

during the nineteenth century. Alongside his artistic wife, Anne Charteris 4th Countess of Warwick, he oversaw the redecoration of the castle's Great Hall and domestic apartments after the fire of 1871. The celebrated architect

Anthony Salvin Anthony Salvin (17 October 1799 – 17 December 1881) was an English architect. He gained a reputation as an expert on medieval buildings and applied this expertise to his new buildings and his restorations. He restored castles and country h ...

was employed to rebuild the hall in the typical Victorian 'Gothic' taste, embellished with stained glass to achieve the effect of a medieval baronial hall. The domestic apartments were also redesigned, with each room assigned a different 'historical' style, typical of the nineteenth century interest in the 'Romantic Interior'. Known as a prolific collector of books, Lord Warwick established a Shakespeare Library at Warwick Castle with the help of

James Halliwell-Phillipps James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (born James Orchard Halliwell; 21 June 1820 – 3 January 1889) was an English Shakespearean scholar, antiquarian, and a collector of English nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Life The son of Thomas Halliwell, he ...

during the years 1852–1870. The entire contents of the library was sold after his death in 1897 to the

Folger Shakespeare Library The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materi ...

, Washington, D.C. Lord Warwick was also a great collector of arms and armour, most of which was purchased through the legendary New Bond Street dealer and forger Samuel Luke Pratt (1805–1878). Many of the greatest pieces were acquired by Pratt from the dispersed collection of Samuel Rush Meyrick and later sold to Greville. Alongside original pieces Pratt sold the Earl several Victorian forgeries, a practise that was fairly common place of dealers in Antique furniture and arms and armour at the time.Boase, F., ''Modern English biography'', 6 vols, 1892–1921

Personal life

On 18 February 1852, he married Anne Charteris (1829–1903), daughter of

Francis Wemyss-Charteris, 9th Earl of Wemyss Francis Wemyss-Charteris, 9th Earl of Wemyss, 5th Earl of March (14 August 1795 – 1 January 1883), was a Scottish peer. Early life Wemyss-Charteris was born 14 August 1795, the son of Francis Douglas, 8th Earl of Wemyss and the former Margar ...

. They had five children: *

Francis Greville, 5th Earl of Warwick Francis Richard Charles Guy Greville, 5th Earl of Warwick (9 February 1853 – 15 January 1924), styled Lord Brooke until 1893, was a British Conservative politician. Early life Greville was the son of George Greville, 4th Earl of Warwick, and h ...

(1853–1924). * Alwyn Greville (1854–1929), who married Mabel Elizabeth Georgina Smith OBE (d. 1940), only daughter of Ernald Mosley Smith of Selsdon Park (son of banker George Robert Smith), in 1888. * Louis Greville (1856–1941), the

High Sheriff of Wiltshire This is a list of the Sheriffs and (after 1 April 1974) High Sheriffs of Wiltshire. Until the 14th century, the shrievalty was held ''ex officio'' by the castellans of Old Sarum Castle. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Go ...

in 1920 who married Lily Gordon (d. 1898), a daughter of J. H. Gordon, in 1887. * Lady Eva Greville (1860–1940), who married Col. Frank Dugdale CVO, second son of James Dugdale of

Wroxall Abbey Wroxall Abbey is a substantial Victorian mansion house situated at Wroxall, Warwickshire which was converted for use as a hotel, spa, wedding venue and conference centre. It is a Grade II listed building. History Built in 1141 by Sir Hugh d ...

, in 1895. * Sidney Greville (1866–1927), who served as Private Secretary to Queen Alexandra. He died at

on 2 December 1893.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Warwick, George, 4th Earl Of 1818 births 1893 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Oxford Earls in the Peerage of Great Britain

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...