Lt.-Gen. Henry Herbert, 9th Earl of Pembroke, 6th Earl of Montgomery (29 January 16939 January 1749) was an English peer and courtier. He was the heir and eldest son of

Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke ( 165622 January 1733), styled The Honourable Thomas Herbert until 1683, was a British statesman who served as Lord Privy Seal from 1692 to 1699. Background Herbert was the third son of Philip Herbert, 5 ...

and his first wife Margaret Sawyer. He was styled Lord Herbert from birth until he inherited his father's earldoms of Pembroke and Montgomery in 1733. He also became

Lord of the bedchamber Gentleman of the Bedchamber was a title in the Royal Household of the Kingdom of England from the 11th century, later used also in the Kingdom of Great Britain. A Lord of the Bedchamber was a courtier in the Royal Household, the term being fir ...

to King George II of the

House of Hanover The House of Hanover ( ) is a European royal house with roots tracing back to the 17th century. Its members, known as Hanoverians, ruled Hanover, Great Britain, Ireland, and the British Empire at various times during the 17th to 20th centurie ...

Life

Studying at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

up to 1705 in a milieu of classicist architecture (its dean, Henry Aldrich, was then at work on his ''Elementa architecturae'' and on overseeing construction of the Peckwater quadrangle, Palladian before Palladianism was popular in England) he went on a grand tour in 1712 (meeting Lord Shaftesbury in Naples,

William Kent William Kent (c. 1685 – 12 April 1748) was an English architect, landscape architect, painter and furniture designer of the early 18th century. He began his career as a painter, and became Principal Painter in Ordinary or court painter, b ...

in Rome, and also going to

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

). He was appointed

lord of the bedchamber Gentleman of the Bedchamber was a title in the Royal Household of the Kingdom of England from the 11th century, later used also in the Kingdom of Great Britain. A Lord of the Bedchamber was a courtier in the Royal Household, the term being fir ...

to George II during his time as the prince of Wales. He was made a deputy lieutenant of

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

on 29 January 1715, and was commissioned captain & lieutenant-colonel in the

Coldstream Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarchy; due to this, it often ...

on 12 August 1717. On 20 September 1721, he was promoted to the rank of

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

, and made captain & colonel of the 1st Troop of Horse Guards. Upon the accession of George II in 1727, Herbert remained his close associate, and was made first lord of the bedchamber. After acceding to the earldom on 9 January 1733, Pembroke left the Horse Guards and was appointed colonel of The King's Own Regiment of Horse (22 June 1733). Later that year (24 August), he was appointed

Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of the English county of Wiltshire. From 1750, all Lord Lieutenants have also been Custos Rotulorum of Wiltshire. Lord Lieutenants of Wiltshire * William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke 1 ...

. George II continued to favour Pembroke, who was appointed groom of the stole on 8 January 1735 and sworn a Privy Councillor the next day. However, he proved unsuccessful in his attempts to mediate between George and his son prince Frederick. Though he exercised powerful patronage in Wilton, his local constituency, Pembroke played only a slight role in national politics. He shared his father's antiquarian tastes (commissioning Andrew Fountaine to supervise the cataloguing of his father's collections), but expressed them through architecture rather than collecting. He is known to have designed seven buildings, two of which are no longer standing, these are the Earl's own house, Pembroke House, Whitehall of 1717, demolished 1756-7 and

Wimbledon House Wimbledon manor house; the residence of the lord of the manor, was an English country house at Wimbledon, Surrey, now part of Greater London. The manor house was over the centuries exploded, burnt and several times demolished. The first known man ...

1732–3, Surrey for the Duchess of Marlborough, burnt down in 1785. Opinions of his talents in that area were mixed –

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (; 24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English Whig politician, writer, historian and antiquarian. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London ...

stated that "no man had a purer taste in building" but Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough wrote that the Earl's talent was little more than to "imitate ill whatever was useless" in

Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was an English architect who was the first significant Architecture of England, architect in England in the early modern era and the first to employ Vitruvius, Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmet ...

and Palladio's buildings Although he designed the ''Column of Victory'' at Blenheim Palace erect 1727–30 for the Duchess of Marlborough as a memorial to her late husband. As one of the "architect earls", he collaborated with Roger Morris to design Marble Hill House (1724–29), the White Lodge, Richmond (1727–28), and the Palladian Bridge over the little River Nadder at Wilton House (1736/7). He also designed the water tower at Houghton Hall (c.1730) in the form of a garden temple, with a pedimented portico raised on a high rusticated base. The mason William Townsend executed the Earl's design for the Column of Victory, at Blenheim Palace and the water tower at Houghton Hall. The Earl also inspected Townsend's design of Westcombe House, Blackheath, Kent (1727–28) and as well as parts of the design of Castle Hill, Devon (1729). He also redecorated a few of the rooms in the south front of Wilton House. Though he was uninvolved in its design, he also acted as an energetic promoter of the project to build Westminster Bridge, getting the relevant Act of Parliament through in 1738, laying the first stone in January 1739 (and the last stone of the main structure in 1747), attending 120 meetings of the bridge commissioners (the last on the morning of his death), and consistently supporting its designer Charles Labelye and his caisson design against long and fierce opposition (after the subsidence of one pier in 1747, ''The Downfall of Westminster Bridge, or, My Lord in the Suds'' mocked him for this support, but he was ultimately vindicated). Lord Pembroke enjoyed swimming, played tennis every day, generally remained continually active and healthy, and (as seen in Roubiliac's portrait bust of him at Wilton) was strong and powerfully built. He seems to have developed asthma (Walpole mentions this in his detailed account of the Earl's death) and spent some weeks at Bath in winter 1743, during which he experienced breathing difficulties. Pembroke was promoted

lieutenant-general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

on 18 February 1742, and became 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 ...

on 15 December 1743. During the king's trip to

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

in 1748, he served as one of the Lord Justices. He died at Pembroke House in 1750.

Diet

Herbert attempted to live on a diet of only

beetroot The beetroot (British English) or beet (North American English) is the taproot portion of a ''Beta vulgaris'' subsp. ''vulgaris'' plant in the Conditiva Group. The plant is a root vegetable also known as the table beet, garden beet, dinner bee ...

and watercress which he kept in a bag wig and used as a knapsack.Lees-Milne, James. (1962). ''Earls of Creation: Five Great Patrons of Eighteenth-century Art''. Penguin Books. p. 67Richardson, Tim. (2015). ''The Arcadian Friends: Inventing the English Landscape Garden''. Bantam Press. p. 242. In 1729, he was seen walking the streets of Paris with his bag wig eating beetroot and watercress at regular intervals. He nearly died because of the diet. He has been described as a "pioneer vegetarian" and a "proto-vegan".''The Literary Review'', 2006

James Lees-Milne (George) James Henry Lees-Milne (6 August 1908 – 28 December 1997) was an English writer and expert on country houses, who worked for the National Trust from 1936 to 1973. He was an architectural historian, novelist and biographer. His extens ...

noted that Herbert "became a fanatical vegetarian to the extent of practically starving himself to death."

Marriage and issue

He and Mary FitzWilliam (eldest daughter of Richard FitzWilliam, 5th Viscount FitzWilliam and Frances Shelley), married on 28 August 1733. They only had one child, Henry, who inherited his father's earldoms. When the Fitzwilliam family died out in the male line in 1833, the Pembroke family inherited large estates in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

; they are still substantial landowners there.

Gallery of architectural works

File:Blenheim Column of Victory.JPG, Column of Victory, Blenheim Palace File:Marble Hill House-River(south)front.jpg, Marble Hill House File:PALLADIAN_BRIDGE_DSC_8754.jpg, Palladian bridge File:White Lodge.jpg, White Lodge

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pembroke, Henry Herbert, 09th Earl of 1693 births 1749 deaths Henry Herbert, 09th Earl of Pembroke 1st King's Dragoon Guards officers British Army lieutenant generals British Life Guards officers Coldstream Guards officers Deputy lieutenants of Worcestershire 9 Henry 18th-century English architects Fellows of the Royal Society Lord-lieutenants of Wiltshire Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain Grooms of the Stool Freemasons of the Premier Grand Lodge of England Court of George II of Great Britain