John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont (24 or 25 February 17114 December 1770) was a British politician, political pamphleteer, and

genealogist Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their Lineage (anthropology), lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family ...

who served as

First Lord of the Admiralty First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the title of the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible f ...

. Of

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

background, he sat in both the Irish and

British Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

s. He was the father of the

Regency Era The Regency era of British history is commonly understood as the years between and 1837, although the official regency for which it is named only spanned the years 1811 to 1820. King George III first suffered debilitating illness in the lat ...

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Spencer Perceval Spencer Perceval (1 November 1762 – 11 May 1812) was a British statesman and barrister who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1809 until his assassination in May 1812. He is the only British prime minister to have been as ...

Early life

He was the son and heir of John Perceval, 1st Earl of Egmont, by his wife Catherine Parker. He was baptised at the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. His two siblings were Lady Catharine Perceval (wife of Thomas Hanmer MP of The Fenns) and Lady Helena Perceval (wife of John Rawdon, 1st Earl of Moira). His paternal grandparents were Sir John Perceval, 3rd Baronet of Lohort Castle and the former Catherine Dering (daughter of Sir Edward Dering, 2nd Baronet). His maternal grandparents were Sir Philip Parker, 2nd Baronet of Arwarton and the former Mary Fortray (a daughter of landowner and author Samuel Fortrey of Byall Fen). He succeeded his father in 1748 as 2nd Earl of Egmont in the Peerage of Ireland.

Career

Perceval sat in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

for

Dingle Dingle ( or ''Daingean Uí Chúis'', meaning "fort of Ó Cúis") is a town in County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The only town on the Dingle Peninsula (known in Irish as ''Corca Dhuibhne''), it sits on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coa ...

between 1731 and 1749. In April 1748, he was created

Gentleman 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 Households of the United Kingdo ...

to the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

. He was made a Privy Counsellor in January 1755. He sat in the

Parliament of Ireland The Parliament of Ireland () was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until the end of 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two chambers: the Irish Hou ...

for

(1731–49) and 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 ...

for

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

(1741–47), Weobley (1747–54) and

Bridgwater Bridgwater is a historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. The town had a population of 41,276 at the 2021 census. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies along both sid ...

(1754–62). In 1762 he was created Baron Lovel and Holland, of Enmore in the County of Somerset, in the Peerage of Great Britain, which gave him an automatic seat in the House of Lords. From 1751 to 1757, he designed and created

Enmore Castle Enmore Castle is a historic building in the village of Enmore, Somerset, England. It is a Grade II listed building. Construction Enmore was the seat of the family of William Malet who built a great house, although the original date of constr ...

at Enmore in

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, which received "the dismissive mockery of

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 ...

". He was appointed joint Postmaster-General for 1762–3 alongside Robert Hampden, 4th Baron Trevor and served as

from 1763 to 1766. As First Sea Lord, places named in his honour were Port Egmont, the first British settlement in the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...

and Mount Taranaki in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, which was named Mount Egmont by Captain

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

in 1770 during his first voyage around the world.

Personal life

Perceval married twice. His first marriage was on 15 February 1737 to Lady Catherine Cecil, who was the second daughter of

James Cecil, 5th Earl of Salisbury James Cecil, 5th Earl of Salisbury (8 June 1691 – 9 October 1728), known as Viscount Cranborne from 1691 to 1694, was a British nobleman, politician, and Peerage, peer. Salisbury was the son of James Cecil, 4th Earl of Salisbury, and Frances B ...

. Before her death on 16 August 1752, aged 33, they had five sons and two daughters: *

John Perceval, 3rd Earl of Egmont John James Perceval, 3rd Earl of Egmont (29 January 1737/38 – 25 February 1822), styled Viscount Perceval from 1748 to 1770, was a British politician.Charles Mosley, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes'' ...

(29 January 1738 – 25 February 1822), eldest son and heir. * Cecil Parker Perceval (19 October 1739 – 4 March 1753), died at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

. * Philip Tufton Perceval (10 March 1742 –1795), a captain in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. * Edward Perceval, (21 April 1744 –1824), a captain in the

Royal Dragoon Guards The Royal Dragoon Guards (RDG) is a Cavalry regiments of the British Army, cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed in 1992 by the amalgamation of two other regiments: The 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards and the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dr ...

, who married Sarah Howarth, daughter of John Howarth, in 1775. * Catherine Perceval (20 February 1746 –1782), who married Thomas Wynn (1736–1807) (afterwards 1st Baron Newborough), in 1766. *Margaret Perceval (10 October 1748 –1750). *Frederick Augustus Perceval (11 February 1750 –1757). His second marriage was to Catherine Compton, the third daughter of the Hon. Charles Compton and sister of Charles Compton, 7th Earl of Northampton and

Spencer Compton, 8th Earl of Northampton Spencer Compton, 8th Earl of Northampton (16 August 1738 – 7 April 1796) was a British Peerage, peer and Member of Parliament. Northampton was the younger son of the Hon. Charles Compton, third son of George Compton, 4th Earl of Northampton an ...

, on 26 January 1756. By Catherine Compton he had three sons and six daughters as follows: * Charles George Perceval (1756–1840), eldest son, who succeeded his mother as Baron Arden in the peerage of Ireland, and was created a peer of the United Kingdom, with the title of Baron Arden of Arden in the county of Warwick * Mary Perceval (d. 1839), who married Andrew Berkeley Drummond of Cadlands, Hampshire, a grandson of

William Drummond, 4th Viscount Strathallan William Drummond, 4th Viscount Strathallan (1690 – 16 April 1746), was a Scottish peer and Jacobitism, Jacobite, who died at the Battle of Culloden. Pardoned for his part in the Jacobite_rising_of_1715, 1715 Rising, Lord Strathallan rais ...

(died 1746), in 1781. * Anne Perceval (15 December 1759 – 1 August 1772).''The Register of Births & Baptisms in the Parish of St James within the Liberty of Westminster Vol. IV. 1741-1760''. 11 January 1760. * Charlotte Perceval (b. 31 January 1761, d. 1761), who died an infant. *

(1762–1812), who served as

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...

from October 1809 to May 1812. * Elizabeth Perceval (d. 1846), who died aged 82, unmarried. *Henry Perceval (1765–1772), who died aged 7. * Frances Perceval (b. 4 December 1767, d. 1817), who married John, 1st Baron Redesdale in 1803. * Margaret Perceval (b. 17 March 1769, d. 1854), who married Thomas Walpole, sometime ambassador at Munich, a nephew of Horatio Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, in 1803. Lord Perceval died on 4 December 1770 at

Pall Mall, London Pall Mall is a street in the St James's area of the City of Westminster, Central London. It connects St James's Street to Trafalgar Square and is a section of the regional A4 road (England), A4 road. The street's name is derived f ...

, aged 59. Following his death, his widow was created on 23 May 1770 Baroness Arden of Lohort Castle in the county of Cork in the peerage of Ireland, with remainder to her heirs male. She survived her husband and died at Langley, Buckinghamshire, on 11 June 1784, aged 53.

Legacy

Port Egmont in the

, established in 1765, is named after him. Mount Egmont in

was named after him by

in recognition of his encouragement of Cook's first voyage. While the mountain has returned to its original Maori name of Taranaki since the 2000s, the Egmont name still applies to the national park that surrounds the peak and geologists still refer to the peak as the Egmont Volcano.

References

External links

* John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmon
''Manuscripts of the Earl of Egmont. Diary of Viscount Percival''
1920 access date 3 March 2015 * Diary of George Marsh who worked in the Navy Offic
''Manuscript of George Marsh''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Egmont, John Perceval, 2nd Earl of 1711 births 1770 deaths British MPs 1741–1747 British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 Irish MPs 1727–1760 Lords of the Admiralty Perceval, John Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Kerry constituencies Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain Fellows of the Royal Society Whig members of the Parliament of Great Britain Parents of prime ministers of the United Kingdom Peers of Great Britain created by George III Earls of Egmont Hereditary peers elected to the House of Commons John, 2nd Earl of Egmont