George Bussy Villiers, 4th Earl of Jersey, PC (9 June 173522 August 1805,

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. T ...

) was an English nobleman, peer, politician and courtier at the court of

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

. He was the oldest surviving son of

William Villiers, 3rd Earl of Jersey William Villiers, 3rd Earl of Jersey, 6th Viscount Grandison, (died 28 August 1769) was an English peer and politician from the Villiers family. Life He was the son of William Villiers, 2nd Earl of Jersey.Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's P ...

, and his wife, the former Lady Anne Egerton, the daughter of Scroop Egerton, 1st Duke of Bridgewater, and widow of

Wriothesley Russell, 3rd Duke of Bedford Wriothesley Russell, 3rd Duke of Bedford (25 May 1708 – 23 October 1732) was an English nobleman and peer. He was the son of Wriothesley Russell, 2nd Duke of Bedford. Russell married his sister's stepdaughter, Lady Anne Egerton, daughter of ...

Parliament

Between 1756 and his father's death in 1769, which took him into 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 ...

, he served continuously in the House of Commons as MP for, in turn, Tamworth in Staffordshire, Aldborough in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maids ...

in Kent. He followed the political lead of the Duke of Grafton in both the Commons and Lords. He was a Lord of the Admiralty from 1761 to 1763 and was sworn of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...

on 11 July 1765 and served as Vice-Chamberlain from 1765 to 1769. On his elevation to the peerage in 1769, he was made a Gentleman of the Bedchamber to George III (1769–1777) and served as

Master of the Buckhounds The Master of the Buckhounds (or Master of the Hounds) was an officer in the Master of the Horse's department of the British Royal Household. The holder was also His/Her Majesty's Representative at Ascot. The role was to oversee a hunting pack; a ...

(1782–1783) and in other court posts until 1800. Because of his courtly manners was called the "Prince of Maccaronies." He was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1787.

Family

Lord Jersey married Frances Twysden at her stepfather's house in the parish of St Martin-in-the-Fields on 26 March 1770. Lady Jersey, who was seventeen years younger than her husband, became one of the more notorious mistresses of

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

in 1793, when he was still

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rule ...

. She was 40 years old at the time and more than once a grandmother. Lord and Lady Jersey had ten children: *Lady Charlotte Anne Villiers (1771–1808), married Lord William Russell in 1789, and had issue. *Lady Anne Barbara Frances Villiers (1772–1832), married William Henry Lambton and had issue, including John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham; married secondly Hon. Charles Wyndham, son of Charles, 2nd Earl of Egremont. * George Child Villiers, 5th Earl of Jersey (1773–1859), married Sarah Sophia Fane daughter of

John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland, (1 June 175915 December 1841), styled Lord Burghersh between 1771 and 1774, was a British Tory politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, who served in most of the cabinets of the period, primari ...

, and Sarah Anne Child, only child of Robert Child, the principal shareholder in the banking firm Child & Co. * Lady Caroline Elizabeth Villiers (1774–1835), married firstly Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, and had issue. She divorced him in the Scottish courts in 1809 and married secondly

George Campbell, 6th Duke of Argyll George William Campbell, 6th Duke of Argyll, (22 September 1768 – 22 October 1839), styled Earl of Campbell from 1768 to 1770 and Marquess of Lorne from 1770 to 1806, was a Scottish Whig politician and nobleman. Background Argyll was the e ...

. *Lady Georgiana Villiers, died young. *Lady Sarah Villiers (born 1779), married Charles Nathaniel Bayley in 1799. *Hon. William Augustus Henry Villiers (1780–1813), died unmarried in America, having assumed the surname of Mansel in 1802, pursuant to the will of Louisa Barbara, Baroness Vernon. *Lady Elizabeth Villiers, died unmarried 1810. *Lady Frances Elizabeth Villiers (1786–1866), married John Ponsonby, 1st Viscount Ponsonby, in 1803. *Lady Harriet Villiers (1788–1870), married Richard Bagot, Bishop of Oxford, in 1806, and had issue.

Ancestry

References

External links

*
Prints associated with George Villiers, 4th Earl of Jersey, at the British Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jersey, George Villiers, 4th Earl of Jersey 1735 births 1805 deaths 18th-century English nobility 19th-century English nobility 4 Villiers, George British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1768–1774 Earls in the Jacobite peerage Masters of the Buckhounds George Villiers, 4th Earl of Jersey Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms Lords of the Admiralty Viscounts Grandison