Jump to content

Frederick Leveson-Gower (Bodmin MP)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Frederick Leveson-Gower
Member of Parliament for Bodmin
In office
1859–1885
Preceded byHon. John Vivian
James Wyld
Succeeded byLeonard Henry Courtney
Member of Parliament for Stoke-upon-Trent
In office
1852–1857
Serving with John Ricardo
Preceded byWilliam Taylor Copeland
John Ricardo
Succeeded byWilliam Taylor Copeland
John Ricardo
Member of Parliament for Derby
In office
1847–1847
Serving with Edward Strutt
Preceded byJohn Ponsonby
Edward Strutt
Succeeded byMichael Thomas Bass
Lawrence Heyworth
Personal details
Born
Hon. Edward Frederick Leveson-Gower

(1819-05-03)3 May 1819
London, England
Died30 May 1907(1907-05-30) (aged 88)
Marylebone, London
Spouse
Lady Margaret Compton
(m. 1851; died 1858)
RelationsWilliam Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire (grandfather)
Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville (brother)
ChildrenSir George Leveson-Gower
Parent(s)Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Granville
Lady Harriet Elizabeth Cavendish
EducationEton College
Alma materChrist Church, Oxford

Hon. Edward Frederick Leveson-Gower DL, JP (3 May 1819 – 30 May 1907),[1] commonly known as Freddy Leveson, was a British barrister, Liberal politician, and aristocrat from the Leveson-Gower family.[2]

Early life

[edit]

Leveson-Gower was the third son and youngest child of Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Granville and his wife Lady Harriet Elizabeth Cavendish, second daughter of Lady Georgiana Spencer and William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire.[3]

His eldest brother, Granville, succeeded their father as earl, while his other brother, William, died at age 16 following several years of paralysis. His sisters were the novelist Lady Georgiana Fullerton and Lady Susan, the wife of George Pitt-Rivers, 4th Baron Rivers.

He spent his early childhood, first in his father's residence at Wherstead, and when his father had become ambassador in France in 1824, at the British embassy in Paris, where he was a playmate of Henri, comte de Chambord.[2]

Aged eight, he was sent back to England on a school in Brighton, after which he entered Eton College.[2] Leveson-Gower left the latter in 1835 and was privately educated for the next two years, until he went on Christ Church, Oxford in 1837.[2] He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1840 and a Master of Arts four years later.[4]

Career

[edit]

After his Grand Tour, he was then called to the bar by the Inner Temple in 1845, practising in the Oxford circuit.[4]

Leveson-Gower entered the British House of Commons for Derby with the support of his uncle William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire in May 1847. However, the election was overturned on petition in July and Leveson-Gower did not stand in the by-election.[5] From 1851, he worked as précis writer in the Foreign Office until the following year,[4] when by the influence of his cousin George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland, he stood successfully as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Stoke-upon-Trent. In 1856, Leveson-Gower joined his brother Granville on a special mission to Russia.[4] He lost his seat, however, in the general election of 1857.[1]

Two years later, he was returned for Bodmin and represented the constituency until his retirement from politics in 1885.[6] Leveson-Gower was a Justice of the Peace for Surrey and served as a Deputy Lieutenant for the county.[7]

Personal life

[edit]

Having travelled to India in 1850, Leveson-Gower, after his return, married Lady Margaret Compton, daughter of Spencer Compton, 2nd Marquess of Northampton, on 1 June 1851.[4] They had two children, one surviving:

Three days after the birth of their son, Lady Margaret died of measles contracted during her pregnancy, aged 28.[9]

Leveson-Gower never remarried and died in 1907, aged 88, having been in his later life a friend of William Ewart Gladstone and his wife.[2]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Leigh Rayment - British House of Commons, Stoke-upon-Trent". Archived from the original on 3 October 2018. Retrieved 9 October 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d e Russell, George W. E. (2007). Prime Ministers and Some Others. Teddington: The Echo Library. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-4068-4104-6.
  3. ^ Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1895). Armorial families. Edinburgh: Grange Publishing Works. p. 610.
  4. ^ a b c d e Debrett, John (1881). Robert Henry Mair (ed.). Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench. London: Dean & Son. p. 96.
  5. ^ "Leigh Rayment - British House of Commons, Derby". Archived from the original on 3 October 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2009.
  6. ^ "Leigh Rayment - British House of Commons, Bodmin". Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 9 October 2009.
  7. ^ M. G. Wiebe; Mary S. Millar; John Alexander; Wilson Gunn, eds. (2004). Benjamin Disraeli Letters: 1857-1859 (2nd ed.). Toronto: University of Toronto Press Inc. p. 80. ISBN 0-8020-8728-0.
  8. ^ "Births". Daily News. 10 February 1854. p. 7. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  9. ^ The Annual Register: World Events 1858. London: F. & J. Rivington. 1859. p. 412. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
[edit]
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Derby
May–July 1847
With: Edward Strutt
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Stoke-upon-Trent
18521857
With: John Ricardo
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Bodmin
18591885
With: William Michell 1859
James Wyld 1859–1868
Succeeded by