George William Frederick Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle, (18 April 1802– 5 December 1864), styled Viscount Morpeth from 1825 to 1848, was a British statesman, orator, and writer.

Life

Carlisle was born in

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

, London, the eldest son of

George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle of Castle Howard, (17 September 17737 October 1848), styled Viscount Morpeth until 1825, was a British statesman. He served as Lord Privy Seal between 1827 and 1828 and in 1834 and was a member of Lord Grey ...

by his wife Lady Georgiana Cavendish, eldest daughter of

William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, (14 December 1748 – 29 July 1811), was a British nobleman, aristocrat, and politician. He was the eldest son of William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, by his wife, the heiress Lady Charlotte B ...

. Lord Lanerton and Charles Howard were his younger brothers. He was educated at Eton and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniq ...

, where he earned a reputation as a scholar and writer of graceful verse, obtaining in 1821 both the chancellor's and the Newdigate prizes for a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

poem, ''Paestum'','''The Pride of Yorkshire''', leaflet for exhibition on George Howard, Castle Howard, 2010 and an English one. He maintained his interest in poetry throughout his life, exchanging sonnets with

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

. In 1826 he accompanied his maternal uncle, the Duke of Devonshire, to the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

, to attend the coronation of Tsar Nicholas I, and became a great favourite in society at

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. At the general election in 1826 Carlisle was returned to parliament as member for the family borough of Morpeth (in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

), a seat he held until 1830, and then represented

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

until 1832 and the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

from 1832 to 1841 and from 1846 to 1848. The latter year he succeeded his father in the earldom and entered 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 Westminst ...

. Carlisle served under

Lord Melbourne William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, (15 March 177924 November 1848), in some sources called Henry William Lamb, was a British Whig politician who served as Home Secretary (1830–1834) and Prime Minister (1834 and 1835–1841). His first pr ...

Chief Secretary for Ireland The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, and officially the "Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant", from the early 19th century u ...

between 1835 and 1841, under

Lord John Russell John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, (18 August 1792 – 28 May 1878), known by his courtesy title Lord John Russell before 1861, was a British Whig and Liberal statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1852 and a ...

First Commissioner of Woods and Forests The Commissioners of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues were established in the United Kingdom in 1810 by merging the former offices of Surveyor General of Woods, Forests, Parks, and Chases and Surveyor General of the Land Revenues of the Crown i ...

from 1846 to 1850 and as

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a ministerial office in the Government of the United Kingdom. The position is the second highest ranking minister in the Cabinet Office, immediately after the Prime Minister, and senior to the Minist ...

from 1850 to 1852 and under Lord Palmerston as

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the King ...

from 1855 to 1858 and again from 1859 to 1864. In 1835 he was appointed to the Privy Councils of

the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. He served as a Lord in Waiting to the Queen's mother, the Duchess of Kent at the

coronation of Queen Victoria The coronation of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom took place on Thursday, 28 June 1838, just over a year after she succeeded to the throne of the United Kingdom at the age of 18. The ceremony was held in Westminster Abbey after a publi ...

in 1838. On 2 April 1853, he was given the Freedom of the

City of Edinburgh The City of Edinburgh Council is the local government authority for the city of Edinburgh, capital of Scotland. With a population of in mid-2019, it is the second most populous local authority area in Scotland. In its current form, the counci ...

, and in 1855, he was made a Knight of the Garter. In the six weeks after he stepped down as Chief Secretary of Ireland in 1841, the signatures of 160,000 men and women who appreciated his service were gathered on 652 sheets of paper and stuck together, creating the Morpeth Roll, a continuous roll measuring 420 metres. Lord Carlisle died unmarried at

Castle Howard Castle Howard is a stately home in North Yorkshire, England, within the civil parish of Henderskelfe, located north of York. It is a private residence and has been the home of the Carlisle branch of the Howard family for more than 300 years ...

in December 1864, aged 62, and was buried in the family mausoleum. He was succeeded in the earldom by his younger brother, Reverend William George Howard.

Legacy

On Bulmer Hill, about a mile from Bulmer village in

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four co ...

, is the Carlisle Memorial Column, erected by public subscription to his memory in 1869–70. It is inscribed: Statues of him by the Irish sculptor John Henry Foley were also erected in

Phoenix Park The Phoenix Park ( ga, Páirc an Fhionnuisce) is a large urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its perimeter wall encloses of recreational space. It includes large areas of grassland and t ...

, Dublin, and in

Brampton, Carlisle Brampton is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward within the City of Carlisle district of Cumbria, England, about east of Carlisle and south of Hadrian's Wall. Historically part of Cumberland, it is situated off the A69 road whic ...

in Cumbria, both in 1870. The statue in Brampton stands on Brampton motte and depicts him in the robes of a Knight of the

Garter A garter is an article of clothing comprising a narrow band of fabric fastened about the leg to keep up stockings. In the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, they were tied just below the knee, where the leg is most slender, to keep the stocking f ...

. The statue in Phoenix Park stood in the Peoples' Garden until 1956, when it was blown off its plinth in an explosion, and subsequently removed to

in Yorkshire. The plinth it once stood on remains in place. File:Carlisle Statue, Phoenix Park.jpg, The statue of Lord Carlisle, which stood in the

, Dublin, from 1870–1956 File:Plinth of former statue of George Howard.jpg, The plinth of the former statue today Image:Howard Monument the Motte, Brampton - geograph.org.uk - 101134.jpg, Statue of Lord Carlisle on

Brampton Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a lower-tier municipality within Peel Region. The city has a population of 656,480 as of the 2021 Census, making it t ...

Motte Image:Obelisk to the 7th Earl of Carlisle.jpg, Obelisk at top of Bulmer Hill Image:Obelisk to the 7th Earl of Carlisle (detail).jpg, Inscription on obelisk (see text)

Notes

References

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External links