George Granville, 1st Baron Lansdowne PC (9 March 1666 – 29 January 1735), of Stowe, Cornwall, was an English Tory politician who sat in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

and

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 65 ...

from 1702 until 1712, when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Lansdown and sat in the House of Lords. He was Secretary at War during the Harley administration from 1710 to 1712. He was also a noted poet and made a name for himself with verses composed on the visit of

Mary of Modena Mary of Modena ( it, Maria Beatrice Eleonora Anna Margherita Isabella d'Este; ) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland as the second wife of James II and VII. A devout Roman Catholic, Mary married the widower James, who was then the younger ...

, then Duchess of York, while he was at Cambridge in 1677. He was also a playwright, following in the style of

John Dryden '' John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the p ...

Origins

Granville was the son of

Bernard Granville Bernard R. Granville (July 4, 1888 - October 5, 1936) was an American actor, singer and minstrel show performer who was discovered by Florenz Ziegfeld and was known as "the twentieth century comedian". Biography He was born on July 4, 1888 in Wes ...

, the fourth son of

Sir Bevil Grenville Sir Bevil Grenville (23 March 1596 - 5 July 1643) was an English landowner and soldier who sat as a Member of Parliament for various constituencies between 1620 to 1642, although during those years there were few parliamentary sessions. When t ...

(1596-1643) of

Bideford Bideford ( ) is a historic port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, south-west England. It is the main town of the Torridge local government district. Toponymy In ancient records Bideford is recorded as ''Bedeford'', ''By ...

in Devon and Stowe in the parish of Kilkhampton in Cornwall, a heroic Royalist commander in the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

. (The family changed the spelling of its name in 1661 from "Grenville" to "Granville", following the grant of the titles Baron Granville and

Earl of Bath Earl of Bath was a title that was created five times in British history, three times in the Peerage of England, once in the Peerage of Great Britain and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It is now extinct. Earls of Bath; First cre ...

). His uncle was

John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath PC, 29 August 1628 – 22 August 1701, was an English landowner who served in the Royalist army during the First English Civil War and was rewarded for his services after the 1660 Stuart Restoration with a titl ...

(1628-1701) whose half-first-cousin was

George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle JP KG PC (6 December 1608 – 3 January 1670) was an English soldier, who fought on both sides during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A prominent military figure under the Commonwealth, his support was cruc ...

, who both played leading roles in the

restoration of the monarchy Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration *Restoration ecology ...

to King Charles II in 1660. He was

heir male In inheritance, a hereditary successor is a person who inherits an indivisible title or office after the death of the previous title holder. The hereditary line of succession may be limited to heirs of the body, or may pass also to collateral l ...

William Granville, 3rd Earl of Bath William Henry Granville, 3rd Earl of Bath (30 January 1692 – 17 May 1711) was an English nobleman. Origins He was the only son of Charles Granville, 2nd Earl of Bath, by his second wife Isabella de Nassau d'Auverquerque, sister of Henry de Na ...

(1692-1711), the 19-year-old son of his first cousin Charles Granville, 2nd Earl of Bath (1661–1701), lord of the manors of

in Devon and of

Stowe, Kilkhampton Stowe House in the parish of Kilkhampton in Cornwall, England, UK, was a mansion built in 1679 by John Grenville, 1st Earl of Bath (1628–1701) and demolished in 1739. The Grenville family were for many centuries lords of the manor of Kil ...

, Cornwall. These connections guaranteed that Granville began life as a staunch

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...

and Jacobite.

Career

Granville was sent to France at the age of ten, with his tutor, William Ellis, who was a proponent of passive resistance and later a servant of James II at St Germain. He entered

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

in 1677. Among his productions while there were poems welcoming

when she visited the university. In 1682, he went to Paris with his brother Sir Bevill Granville, where they studied fencing, riding, dancing, mathematics and military science. He stayed in France until 1687, accumulating a £500 debt. He then lived in England at his mother's house at Marr, near Doncaster. His early interests were literary and by the mid-1690s he had befriended

and begun to write plays. He wrote an undistinguished

comedy of manners In English literature, the term comedy of manners (also anti-sentimental comedy) describes a genre of realistic, satirical comedy of the Restoration period (1660–1710) that questions and comments upon the manners and social conventions of a gr ...

entitled ''

The She-Gallants ''The She-Gallants'' is a 1695 comedy play by the English writer George Granville. It was first staged by Thomas Betterton's Company at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre in London. The original cast included Thomas Betterton as Bellamour, Jo ...

'', which was staged unsuccessfully in 1695. His adult plays bear the marks of Dryden's influence. ''The Heroick Love'' is taken from the first book of

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

's ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Ody ...

''. Granville also followed Dryden in adapting

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

and Granville's ''The Jew of Venice'' (1701) was a successful updating of ''

The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as ...

''. Perhaps his greatest success was ''The British Enchanters'' (1705), a pseudo-operatic extravaganza staged by

Thomas Betterton Thomas Patrick Betterton (August 1635 – 28 April 1710), the leading male actor and theatre manager during Restoration England, son of an under-cook to King Charles I, was born in London. Apprentice and actor Betterton was born in August 16 ...

's company. In the opinion of

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

, Granville's non-dramatic poetry is slavishly imitative of

Edmund Waller Edmund Waller, FRS (3 March 1606 – 21 October 1687) was an English poet and politician who was Member of Parliament for various constituencies between 1624 and 1687, and one of the longest serving members of the English House of Commons. S ...

. However some of his poetry was popular in its day. Perhaps Granville's most useful act as regards poetry was the encouragement he gave to

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...

, which Pope remembered with gratitude in his '' Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot''.

Political life

GranvilleArms QueenAnne'sWalk Barnstaple Devon

The death of Granville's parents and of his uncle the 1st Earl of Bath in 1701 placed Granville in a position of power which the accession of Queen Anne in 1702 allowed him to employ. With the help of his cousin, John Granville, an influential Tory leader, he was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Fowey Fowey ( ; kw, Fowydh, meaning 'Beech Trees') is a port town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town has been in existence since well before the Norman invasion, with the local ch ...

at the

1702 English general election The 1702 English general election was the first to be held during the reign of Queen Anne, and was necessitated by the demise of William III. The new government dominated by the Tories gained ground in the election, with the Tory party winning ...

. When his elder brother, Sir Bevill Granville, was appointed

Governor of Barbados This article contains a list of viceroys in Barbados from its initial colonisation in 1627 by England until it achieved independence in 1966. From 1833 to 1885, Barbados was part of the colony of the Windward Islands, and the governor of Barbad ...

, Granville inherited his office as constable of Pendennis Castle in 1703. In Parliament, he operated in the sphere of Harley, who was an indifferent patron at first. He was absent from the division on the Tack, becoming labelled a ‘Sneaker’. He was returned unopposed for Fowey at the 1705 English general election and with the help of Harley fended of an attempt to remove him from his post at Pendennis Castle. His aspiration to obtain a post led him to support the Court in voting for the Court candidate as Speaker on 25 October 1705, and he again supported the Court on the ‘place clause’ of the regency bill in February 1706. At the 1708 general election, he was returned again for Fowey. The height of his fame during the Godolphin- Marlborough administration came from his spirited defence of Henry Sacheverell in 1710. After the fall of the Godolphin government, Granville became MP for

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

at the

1710 British general election The 1710 British general election produced a landslide victory for the Tories. The election came in the wake of the prosecution of Henry Sacheverell, which had led to the collapse of the previous government led by Godolphin and the Whig Junt ...

, and on 28 September 1710 he was made Secretary at War. In this capacity, he oversaw the passage of important bills on munitions and recruitment. However, his experience in the Tory government was marked by family and legal strife. He was the

to the senior line of the Granville family following the death without progeny in 1711 of his cousin

. He was not in succession to the earldom and was in recognition raised to the peerage on 1 January 1712 as Baron Lansdown of Bideford in the

Peerage of Great Britain The Peerage of Great Britain comprises all extant peerages created in the Kingdom of Great Britain between the Acts of Union 1707 and the Acts of Union 1800. It replaced the Peerage of England and the Peerage of Scotland, but was itself re ...

and vacated his seat in the House of Commons. He was one of Harley's Dozen created at once to change the political balance in the Whig-dominated Lord. He expended time and money in an ultimately futile effort to secure the title of

. Despite some success, his tenure in the War Office was marred by accusations of corruption and expensive contested elections. He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1712. In 1714 Queen Anne was succeeded by the Hanoverian King George I, who favoured the Whigs. Almost all the Tories who held office under Anne were dismissed, including Lord Lansdown. Embittered, he began a secret correspondence with the Jacobite

Old Pretender James Francis Edward Stuart (10 June 16881 January 1766), nicknamed the Old Pretender by Whigs, was the son of King James II and VII of England, Scotland and Ireland, and his second wife, Mary of Modena. He was Prince of Wales from ...

"James III". On 6 October 1721 James, who refused to recognise his peerage "Baron Lansdown" bestowed by Queen Anne, created him "Lord of Lansdown"," Viscount and "Earl of Bath" in the Jacobite Peerage of England, with remainder to his heirs male. On 3 November 1721 James created him "Duke of Albemarle", "Marquis Monck and Fitzhemmon", "Earl of Bath", "Viscount Bevel", and "Baron Lansdown of Bideford" in the Jacobite Peerage of England, which supposed titles had no legal validity in the

Kingdom of Great Britain The Kingdom of Great Britain (officially Great Britain) was a sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707 to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, wh ...

. One of these titles referred to his family's supposed descent (officially confirmed to the 1st Earl of Bath by warrant of King Charles II in 1661) from Richard I de Grenville (d.post 1142) of

Neath Castle Neath Castle ( cy, Castell Nedd) is a Norman castle located in the town centre of Neath, Wales. Its construction was begun by Robert, Earl of Gloucester, the nominal Lord of Glamorgan, at a date estimated between 1114 and 1130. It is also refer ...

, one of the Twelve Knights of Glamorgan and a brother and follower of

Robert FitzHamon Robert Fitzhamon (died March 1107), or Robert FitzHamon (literally, 'Robert, son of Hamon'), Seigneur de Creully in the Calvados region and Torigny in the Manche region of Normandy, was the first Norman feudal baron of Gloucester and the Nor ...

the Norman conqueror of Glamorgan. The titles Monck and Albemarle referred to the fact that the 1st Earl of Bath had been granted reversion of his cousin Monck's Dukedom of Albemarle, should the Duke have died without male progeny. The title "Lansdown" referred to Lansdown Hill near Bath in Somerset where his grandfather Sir Bevil Grenville had met his heroic death at the

Battle of Lansdown The First English Civil War battle of Lansdowne, or Lansdown, was fought on 5 July 1643, at Lansdowne Hill, near Bath, Somerset, England. Although the Royalists under Lord Hopton forced the Parliamentarians under Sir William Waller to re ...

in 1643. The titles created on 3 November 1721 were with remainder to the heirs male of his body, whom failing to his brother, Bernard Granville, and the heirs male of his body.

Marriage

On 15 December 1711 in the church of

St Martin-in-the-Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the mediev ...

in Westminster, London, he married (as her 2nd husband) Mary Villiers, the daughter of

Edward Villiers, 1st Earl of Jersey Edward Villiers, 1st Earl of Jersey (c. 165625 August 1711) was an English peer, courtier, and statesman of the Villiers family. He was created Baron Villiers and Viscount Villiers in 1691 and Earl of Jersey in 1697. A leading Tory politician ...

(1656–1711) and the widow of Thomas Thynne (d. 1710).

Death and burial

He died in London on 29 January 1735, his wife having predeceased him by a few days, and was buried with her in the Church of

St Clement Danes St Clement Danes is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London. It is situated outside the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand. Although the first church on the site was reputedly founded in the 9th century by the Danes, the current ...

on 3 February 1735. He left no male progeny, and thus at his death the Barony of Lansdowne became extinct. His Jacobite titles, such as they were, were inherited by his nephew Bernard Granville, son of his brother Bernard. The younger Bernard died in 1776, when the Jacobite peerages created on 3 November 1721 became extinct, while those created on 6 October 1721 passed to his heir male.

Works

* George Granville Lansdowne, Baron (1732). ''A letter to the author of Reflexions historical and political : Occasioned by a treatise In Vindication of General Monk, and Sir Richard Granville, &c. By the Right Honourable George Granville, Lord Lansdowne''. London : Printed for J. Tonson in the Strand ; And L. Gilliver in Fleetstreet, MDCCXXXII. * George Granville Lansdowne, Baron (1779-1780).''The poetical works : of the Right Hon. Geo. Granville, Lord Landsdowne. With the life of the author.''Edinburg : At the Apollo Press, by the Martins. * George Granville Lansdowne, Baron. ''Select poems of George Granville, Lord Lansdowne. With a life of the author.''Works of the British poets ... v. 17, p. 57203 * George Granville Lansdowne, Baron (1736). ''The genuine works in verse and prose, of the Right Honourable George Granville, Lord Lansdowne.''London : Printed for J. and R. Tonson, at Shakespear's Head in the Strand, and L. Gilliver, J. Clarke, at Homer's Head in Fleetstreet, MDCCXXXVI * George Granville Lansdowne, Baron (1807).''The poetical works of George Granville, Lord Landsdowne ic: with the life of the author''. Printed for Cadell and Davies ... and Samuel Bagster. * George Granville Lansdowne, Baron (1785).''Ode to Lansdown-hill, with notes, mostly relative to the Granville family : to which are added, two letters of advice from George lord Lansdown, anno MDCCXI, to William Henry earl of Bath.''London : Printed by J. Nichols, for W. Randall, Pall-Mall * George Granville Lansdowne, Baron (1732). ''A letter to the author of Reflexions historical and political, occasioned by a treatise in vindication of General Monk and Sir Richard Granville, &c.''London : Printed for J. Tonson ..., and L. Gilliver. * George Granville Lansdowne, Baron (1736).''The genuine works in verse and prose.''London : Tonson.Lansdowne, George Granville, Baron, 1667–1735
Retrieved on 10 Jan 2018.

References

External links

* *
George Granville
at th
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lansdowne, George Granville, 1st Baron 1666 births 1735 deaths Granville, George Granville, George Granville, George Granville, George Granville, George Members of the Privy Council of England Barons in the Peerage of Great Britain Peers of Great Britain created by Queen Anne Dukes of Albemarle Albemarle, George Granville, 1st Duke of Peers created by James Francis Edward Stuart Cornish Jacobites English Jacobites Granville, George Treasurers of the Household English MPs 1702–1705 English MPs 1705–1707 George