George Parker, 4th Earl Of Macclesfield
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George Parker, 4th Earl of Macclesfield PC (24 February 1755 – 20 March 1842), styled Viscount Parker between 1764 and 1795, was a British peer and politician who sat in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
between 1777 and 1795.


Background

Macclesfield was the son of Thomas Parker, 3rd Earl of Macclesfield, and Mary, daughter of Sir William Heathcote, 1st Baronet.


Political career

Macclesfield was returned to Parliament for
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in 1777, a seat he held until 1784, and later represented
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between 1790 and 1795. In 1791 he was sworn of the Privy Council and appointed Comptroller of the Household, which he remained until 1797. In 1795 he succeeded his father in the earldom and entered the
House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
. From 1804 to 1830 he held office as
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under eight different prime ministers. During the French Revolutionary War he raised the County Fencible Cavalry in Oxfordshire, later the Watlington Cavalry, precursor of the Oxfordshire Yeomanry, and was appointed its
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on 20 June 1798. He was elected a
fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
in November 1818.


Family

Lord Macclesfield married Mary Frances, daughter of Reverend Thomas Drake, in 1780. She died in January 1823. Macclesfield died in March 1842, aged 87, and was succeeded in the earldom by his younger brother, Thomas.


Canal and Park

Lord Macclesfield was a director of the Regent's Canal from 1812 and its chairman from 1816. He was appointed as a commissioner of the Crown Estate Paving Commission in August 1824. As chair of the canal company, he saw it through its most testing times as a variety of problems and obstacles had to be surmounted before the canal could be opened in 1820.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macclesfield, George Parker, 4th Earl of 1755 births 1842 deaths Parker, George Parker, Viscount Parker, George Parker, Viscount Parker, George Parker, Viscount Lord-lieutenants of Oxfordshire Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars officers Parker, George Parker, Viscount Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Parker, George Parker, Viscount Fellows of the Royal Society George 204