John Hobart, 2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire (17 August 17233 August 1793) was a British politician, courtier and diplomat.

Biography

The son of

John Hobart, 1st Earl of Buckinghamshire John Hobart, 1st Earl of Buckinghamshire, (11 October 169322 September 1756) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1715 to 1728, when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Hobart. Early life Hobart was the son of Si ...

by his first wife Judith Britiffe, he was educated at

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It descends from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the Norman Conquest, as do ...

and

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 250 graduate students. The c ...

. He was Member of Parliament for

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

from 1747 to 1756, having also been elected for St Ives in 1747 but opting to sit for Norwich. He held office as Comptroller of the Household in 1755-56 and as a Lord of the Bedchamber from 1756 to 1767, having succeeded his father as Earl in 1756. He was Ambassador from the United Kingdom to Russia from 1762 to 1765 and

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 K ...

from 1776 to 1780, when his Chief Secretary was Sir Richard Heron, Bt. In the latter role, he had to concede

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold Economic liberalism, economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist politica ...

and, more importantly, the enactment of the Papists Act 1778 which partially repealed the Penal laws and provided measures for the relief of

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

and

Dissenters A dissenter (from the Latin , 'to disagree') is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc. Dissent may include political opposition to decrees, ideas or doctrines and it may include opposition to those things or the fiat of ...

Family

He married firstly Mary Anne Drury, daughter of Sir Thomas Drury, 1st Baronet, and secondly, Caroline, daughter of William James Conolly, but died without surviving male issue and was succeeded by his half-brother George Hobart, 3rd Earl of Buckinghamshire. He had three daughters by his first wife: *Lady Harriet, Marchioness of Lothian (1762–1805), who married William Kerr, 6th Marquess of Lothian, and was the mother of John Kerr, 7th Marquess of Lothian *Lady Caroline (died 1850), who married William Assheton Harbord, 2nd Baron Suffield *Lady Sophia (1768–1806), who married Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe and three sons, who died young, and one daughter by his second wife: * Amelia Stewart, Viscountess Castlereagh (1772–1829), wife of the Foreign Secretary

Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, (18 June 1769 – 12 August 1822), usually known as Lord Castlereagh, derived from the courtesy title Viscount Castlereagh ( ) by which he was styled from 1796 to 1821, was an Kingdom of Ireland, Ir ...

. He was laid to rest in the family mausoleum at Blickling Hall, the family seat in Norfolk. The bodies of his two wives are also in the mausoleum, which is an unusual

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

pyramidal structure designed by architect Joseph Bonomi the Elder, based on Pyramid of Cestius in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Gallery

Sources

*''Concise Dictionary of National Biography''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckinghamshire, John Hobart, 2nd Earl Of 1723 births 1793 deaths 2 Diplomatic peers Ambassadors of Great Britain to Russia Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 John Lords Lieutenant of Ireland