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Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton

Augustus Henry FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, KG, PC (28 September 1735 – 14 March 1811) was a British Whig statesman of the Georgian era. He was one of a handful of dukes who served as Prime Minister.

Biography

Family

He was a son of Lord Augustus FitzRoy and Elizabeth Cosby, daughter of Colonel William Cosby, who served as a colonial Governor of New York. His father was the third son of Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton and Lady Henrietta Somerset, which made FitzRoy a great-grandson of both Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton and Charles Somerset, Marquess of Worcester. He was notably a fourth-generation descendant of King Charles II and Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland. His younger brother was Charles FitzRoy, 1st Baron Southampton. From the death of his uncle in 1747, he was styled Earl of Euston as his grandfather's heir apparent.

Lord Euston was educated at Westminster School, made the Grand Tour and obtained a degree at Peterhouse, Cambridge. In 1756, he married the Honourable Anne Liddell, daughter of Henry Liddell, 1st Baron Ravensworth. They had three children:

  • George Henry FitzRoy, 4th Duke of Grafton (1760-1844)
  • General Lord Charles FitzRoy (1764-1829)
  • Lady Georgiana FitzRoy (1768-1799), who married John Smyth

They were divorced by act of Parliament in 1769. In 1769 he remarried Elizabeth Wrottesley, daughter of the Reverend Sir Richard Wrottesley, Bart. They had the following children:

  • Elizabeth FitzRoy (died 1839), married her cousin William Fitzroy, son of Charles FitzRoy, 1st Baron Southampton.
  • Augusta FitzRoy (died 1839), married G. F. Tavel
  • Henry FitzRoy (1770-1828), clergyman
  • Frances FitzRoy (1780-1866), married Francis Almeric Spencer, 1st Baron Churchill of Whichwood
  • William FitzRoy (1782-1857), Admiral
  • Isabella FitzRoy (died 1866), married Barrington Pope Blachford.

Political career

In 1756, he entered Parliament as MP for Boroughbridge, a pocket borough; several months later, he switched constituencies to Bury St Edmunds, which was controlled by his family. However, a year later, his grandfather died and he succeeded as 3rd Duke of Grafton, which elevated him to the House of Lords.

He first became known in politics as an opponent of Lord Bute, a favourite of King George III. Grafton allied with the Duke of Newcastle against Lord Bute, whose term as Prime Minister was short-lived. In 1765, Grafton was appointed a Privy Counsellor, then, following discussions with William Pitt the Elder, he was appointed Northern Secretary in Lord Rockingham's first government. However, he retired the following year, and Pitt (by then Lord Chatham) formed a ministry in which Grafton was First Lord of the Treasury but not Prime Minister.

Chatham's illness, at the end of 1767, resulted in Grafton becoming the Government's effective leader (he is credited with entering the office of Prime Minister in 1768), but political differences and the attacks of "Junius" led to his resignation in January 1770. Also, in 1768, Grafton became Chancellor of Cambridge University. He became Lord Privy Seal in Lord North's ministry (1771) but resigned in 1775, being in favour of conciliatory action towards the American colonists. In the second Rockingham ministry of 1782, he was again Lord Privy Seal. In later years he was a prominent Unitarian.

Grafton County, New Hampshire, in the United States, is named in his honour.

The Duke of Grafton's Government

External link

Reference

This article is from Wikipedia and is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.