George Grey, 5th Earl of Stamford

George Harry Grey, 5th Earl of Stamford (1 October 1737 – 28 May 1819), styled Lord Grey from 1739–68, was a British nobleman who succeeded his father as the Earl of Stamford. In 1796, his maternal grandfather's peerage titles Earl of Warrington and Baron Delamer were revived for him.[1]

The Earl of Stamford
1st Earl of Warrington
In office
1796–1819
5th Earl of Stamford
In office
1768–1819
Member of the British Parliament
for Staffordshire
In office
1761–1768
Personal details
Born
George Harry Grey

1 October 1737
Died28 May 1819
Enville Hall, Staffordshire
Spouse
Lady Henrietta Bentinck
(m. 1768)
Children9, including George Grey, 6th Earl of Stamford
Parents
Alma materQueens' College, Cambridge
Arms of Grey: Barry of six Argent and Azure
Enville Hall, Staffordshire

Early life and education

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Grey was born in 1737, the eldest son and heir of Harry Grey, 4th Earl of Stamford by his wife, Lady Mary, only daughter and heiress of George Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington. He was baptised on 21 October at Newtown Linford, Leicestershire. Educated at Leicester School, he went up to Queens' College, Cambridge.[2] where he matriculated in the Michaelmas term 1755, graduating MA in 1758.

Career

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On 22 September 1761, Lord Grey was a Page of Honour at coronation of George III.

Lord Grey served as Whig MP for Staffordshire from 1761 until 1768, when succeeded to his father's earldom and took his seat in the House of Lords.

He was Colonel of the Royal Chester Regiment of Militia from 1764, and Lord Lieutenant from 1783.

His brother-in-law, William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, while Prime Minister,[3] suggested that Stamford should also become a peer of Great Britain in addition to being an English peer. He accepted an earldom in 1796 from Portland's successor William Pitt the Younger, rather than the reported previous offer of a marquessate; in the absence of there being another dukedom in keeping with Grey family tradition (cf Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk), Stamford deemed it better to preserve the memory of his grandmother's whose estates he had inherited. Thus he received the additional titles of Baron Delamer and Earl of Warrington (in the peerage of Great Britain) in recognition of the Booth family.

Estates

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Stamford modernised the family's Staffordshire seat at Enville Hall to the design of Thomas Hope. He promoted the development of the town of Ashton-under-Lyne (where he had appointed his cousin, George Booth as Rector) near Manchester, on land inherited from the Earls of Warrington.[4]

The Grey family owned large tracts of land at Enville in Staffordshire and Bradgate Park in Leicestershire, and his mother had inherited Dunham Massey Hall and land in Stalybridge.

Marriage and issue

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On 28 May 1763, Grey married Lady Henrietta, second daughter of William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland and the art collector Margaret Bentinck, Duchess of Portland, only daughter and heiress of Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer at Stamford House, Whitehall, and registry office, Westminster, having nine children including:[1][5]

On his death in 1819 at Enville Hall, he was succeeded by his eldest son.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Burke, Bernard; Burke, Ashworth Peter (1910). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage. Harrison & Sons. p. 1700. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  2. ^ "Grey, George Harry, Lord (GRY755GH)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  3. ^ www.nottingham.ac.uk
  4. ^ Enville and stalybridge estates Archived 25 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Ormerod, George (1882). The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester. G. Routledge. p. 535. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Staffordshire
1761–1768
With: William Bagot
Succeeded by
Honorary titles
Preceded by Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire
1783–1819
Succeeded by
Peerage of England
Preceded by Earl of Stamford
1768–1819
Succeeded by
Peerage of Great Britain
New creation Earl of Warrington
1796–1819
Succeeded by