Manors and Estates - Earl of Radnor - Back

The Earl of Radnor
Earl of Radnor is a title which has been created several times, first in the Peerage of England in 1679 for Lord Robartes, a notable political figure of the reign of Charles II, and then in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1765. The earldom was created for a second time in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1765 when William de Bouverie, 2nd Viscount Folkestone, was made Earl of Radnor.

2nd Earl of Radnor; Jacob Pleydell-Bouverie born 4th March 1750 died 27 January 1828 married 24 January 1777 to Hon Anne Duncombe, daughter of Lord Feversham. Viscount Folkestone, who died 14 October 1829.

Obituary - 27th January 1828 – At Longford Castle, Wiltshire aged 77, the Right Hon. Jacob Pleydell-Bouverie, second Earl of Radnor, and Baronet Pleydell Bouverie of Coleshill in Berkshire, third Viscount Folkstone and Baron Longford in Wiltshire, fifth Baronet (of London), Recorder of Salisbury, High Steward of Wallingford, M.A. F.R.S., and F.S.A.

His Lordship was born 4th March 1750, the only son of William the first Earl of Radnor by his first wife Harriet, only daughter and heiress of Sir Mark Stuart Pleydell, Bart. He was educated at Harrow, and afterwards at University College Oxford, where he was a grand-compounder for the degree of Master of Arts 1st April 1773. On his coming of age in 1771, his uncle, the Hon. Edward Bouverie (afterwards Member in many Parliaments for Northampton), by accepting the Stewardship of the Manor of East Hendred, made room for the young heir to represent the City of Salisbury. Lord Folkstone was again returned at the general election of 1774, and in 1776 he succeeded to his father’s seat in the House of Peers. On his conduct in Parliament but few remarks can be made. In 1788 he divided with the Pitt administration on the Regency question. In 1798 he moved three separate amendments to the “Militia Officers’ Augmentation Bill” and in 1799 protested against the “Militia Reduction Bill”. In December that year his Lordship also protested against the service of the militia in Ireland; in 1800 he spoke in favour of the Union whith that country; and in 1808 he brought in a Bill “for the relief of wounded soldiers and sailors”.

In 1791 Lord Radnor was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, and he continued to fulfil the duties of that office until his increasing infirmities compelled him to resign it in 1819. In 1795 his Lordship was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and he soon after received a similar honour from the Society of Antiquities. He had previously communicated to the Archaeologia of the latter institution, in 1781 a description of a saxon ornament found near Salisbury, and in 1790 some observations on the Pusey Horn.

The Earl of Radnor married on the 24th January 1777, the Hon. Anne Duncombe, daughter and co-heiress of Anthony Lord Feversham. Her mother had twelve years before became the third wife of his father, the first Earl.  By Lady Radnor, his Lordship had issue three daughters, who all died at the age between twelve and fifteen and five sons, viz;

1. William, 3rd Earl of Radnor who had for five and twenty years sat in the House of Commons for Salisbury, and has been twice married, first to Lady Catherine Pelham Clinton, sister of the Duke of Newcastle, and secondly to Anne Judith, sister to Sir Henry St. John Mildmay, Bart., and had issue by both alliances;

2. The Hon. Duncombe Pleydell-Bouverie R.N. married to Louisa, daughter of Joseph May, Esq.,

3. Hon. Laurence, who died unmarried in 1811

4. The Hon. And Rev. Frederick, married in 1814 to Elizabeth, sister to Sir Charles Sullivan, Bart., and has a numerous family.

5. The Hon. Philip, married in 1811 to Maria sister to Lord Heytesbury (who had in 1809 married Mr Philip Bouverie’s cousin Rebecca, daughter of the Hon. William-Henry Bouverie,) and had several children.

The funeral of Lord Radnor took place at Britford, the family burial place, attended by his four sons and his principal servants; and a funeral service and anthem was performed the same day in Salisbury Cathedral. He had bequeathed two hundred pounds to the Salisbury Infirmary. There is a portrait of the Earl at the age of seven, in a Vandyke dress, painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and engraved by J. M’Ardell. A picture of more recent date is suspended in the Council Room at Salisbury.