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George Coventry, 9th Earl of Coventry

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The Right Honourable
The Earl of Coventry
PC DL
Lord Coventry c. 1920–1925
Master of the Buckhounds
In office
16 July 1895 – 1 November 1900
MonarchVictoria
Prime MinisterThe Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded byThe Lord Ribblesdale
Succeeded byThe Lord Chesham
In office
16 August 1886 – 25 August 1892
MonarchVictoria
Prime MinisterThe Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded byThe Lord Suffield
Succeeded byThe Lord Ribblesdale
Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms
In office
6 July 1885 – 28 January 1886
MonarchVictoria
Prime MinisterThe Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded byThe Lord Carrington
Succeeded byThe Lord Sudeley
In office
28 May 1877 – 21 April 1880
MonarchVictoria
Prime MinisterThe Earl of Beaconsfield
Preceded byThe Earl of Shrewsbury
Succeeded byThe Earl Fife
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
9 May 1859 – 13 March 1930
Hereditary Peerage
Preceded by8th Earl of Coventry
Succeeded by10th Earl of Coventry
Personal details
Born(1838-05-09)9 May 1838
Wilton Crescent, London
Died13 March 1930(1930-03-13) (aged 91)
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Spouse
Lady Blanche Craven
​
(m. 1865)​
Alma materChrist Church, Oxford

George William Coventry, 9th Earl of Coventry, PC, DL (9 May 1838 – 13 March 1930), styled Viscount Deerhurst from November 1838 until 1843, was a British Conservative politician. He was Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms between 1877 and 1880 and again between 1885 and 1886 as well as Master of the Buckhounds between 1886 and 1892 and again between 1895 and 1901.

Early life

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Coventry was born on 9 May 1838 at Wilton Crescent, London. He was the son of George William Coventry, Viscount Deerhurst, and the former Harriett Anne Cockerell. His elder sister, Lady Maria Emma Catherine Coventry, was the wife of Hon. Gerald Henry Brabazon Ponsonby (the youngest son of John Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough).[1]

His paternal grandparents were George Coventry, 8th Earl of Coventry and the former Hon. Emma Susanna Lygon (a daughter of William Lygon, 1st Earl Beauchamp). Sir Charles Cockerell, 1st Baronet and the former Hon. Harriet Rushout (a daughter of John Rushout, 1st Baron Northwick).[2]

He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford.[2]

Career

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Coventry sat on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords and served as Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms under the Earl of Beaconsfield from 1877 to 1880 and under Lord Salisbury from 1885 to 1886 and under Salisbury as Master of the Buckhounds from 1886 to 1892 and again from 1895 to 1900. In 1877 he was admitted to the Privy Council.[2]

Coventry was also Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire from 1891 to 1903,[2] and was the Honorary Colonel of the 3rd and 4th (Worcestershire Militia) Battalions, Worcestershire Regiment from 1900.[3] He was honoured as Lord High steward of Tewkesbury in December 1901,[4] and received the Honorary Freedom of the borough of Tewkesbury in January 1902.[5] During the First World War the Earl of Coventry, as Lord Lieutenant, was the figurehead of the county war effort. He chaired a number of committees and charities, and was President of the Worcestershire Volunteer Regiment of the Volunteer Training Corps (the WW1 Home Guard).[6] Apart from his political career he was also involved in horseracing. His racing colours were brown with blue cap and were carried to victory in consecutive Grand Nationals by the half-sisters Emblem, 1863, and Emblematic, 1864.[7] In 1899 he was President of the Royal Agricultural Society.[2]

The Earl was also interested in the development of agriculture and maintained a paternalistic attitude toward his tenants. He established a jam factory in order to provide them with a local outlet for their fruit although this proved unable to compete with larger-scale commercial competitors and went into liquidation in 1908.[8]

Personal life

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Memorial to the 9th Earl of Coventry in the church at Croome Court

On 25 January 1865, Lord Coventry married Lady Blanche Craven, daughter of William Craven, 2nd Earl of Craven and the former Lady Emily Mary Grimston (a daughter of James Grimston, 1st Earl of Verulam). Together they had six sons and three daughters:[2]

  • George William Coventry, Viscount Deerhurst (1865–1927), who married the American-born Virginia Lee Bonynge (nee Daniel), daughter of William Daniel who was adopted by Charles William Bonynge.[9]
  • Hon. Charles John Coventry (1867–1929), who was a soldier and successful cricketer;[10] he married Lily Whitehouse, daughter of William Fitzhugh Whitehouse and sister to U.S. diplomat Edwin Sheldon Whitehouse, in 1900.[2]
  • Hon. Henry Thomas Coventry (1868–1934), who also played first-class cricket;[11] he married Edith (née Kip) McCreery, daughter of Col. Lawrence Kip and Eva Lorillard, in 1907.[2]
  • Hon. Sir Reginald William Coventry (1869–1940), who married Gwenllian Pascoe Morgan, daughter of Edward Vaughan Morgan, in 1911. After her death in 1925, he married Frances Constance Jones, daughter of Charles Gwillim Jones, in 1926.[2]
  • Lady Barbara Elizabeth Coventry (1870–1946), who married Gerald Dudley Smith, son of Dudley Robert Smith, in 1894.[2]
  • Lady Dorothy Coventry (1872–1965), who married Sir Keith Fraser, 5th Baronet, in 1910.[2]
  • Lady Anne Blanche Alice Coventry (1874–1956), who married Prince Victor Duleep Singh, the eldest son of Maharaja Duleep Singh.[2]
  • Hon. William Francis Coventry (1875–1937), who died unmarried.[2]
  • Hon. Thomas George Coventry (1885–1972), who married Alice Ward, daughter of Thomas Ward, in 1910. They divorced around 1930.[2]

Lord Coventry died on 13 March 1930, aged 91,[12] and was succeeded in the earldom by his grandson George, the son of George William Coventry, Viscount Deerhurst.[9] Lady Coventry survived her husband by only three days and died on 16 March 1930, aged 87.[2]

References

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  1. ^ G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume III, page 475-476.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, page 933.
  3. ^ "No. 27154". The London Gazette. 16 January 1900. p. 292.
  4. ^ "Court Circular". The Times. No. 36645. London. 23 December 1901. p. 7.
  5. ^ "Court circular". The Times. No. 36676. London. 28 January 1902. p. 7.
  6. ^ Atkin, Susanne. "Croome Estate in WW1". Croome100. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  7. ^ [1] Archived 14 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine National horse racing museum profile
  8. ^ Atkin, Susanne. "The Croome Jam Industry". Croome100. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  9. ^ a b MacColl, Gail; Wallace, Carol McD. (15 March 2012). To Marry an English Lord: Tales of Wealth and Marriage, Sex and Snobbery in the Gilded Age (An Inspiration for Downton Abbey). Workman Publishing. p. 324. ISBN 9780761171980. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  10. ^ Atkin, Susanne (2016). "C.J. Coventry: Katia and Beyond". Friends of Croome Newsletter (24).
  11. ^ "Wisden – Obutuaries in 1934". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  12. ^ Hammond, Peter W., editor, The Complete Peerage or a History of the House of Lords and All its Members From the Earliest Times, Volume XIV: Addenda & Corrigenda (Stroud, Gloucestershire, U.K.: Sutton Publishing, 1998), page 212.
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Political offices
Preceded by Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms
1877–1880 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms
1885–1886 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Master of the Buckhounds
1886–1892 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Master of the Buckhounds
1895–1901 		Succeeded by
Honorary titles
Preceded by Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire
1891–1923 		Succeeded by
Peerage of England
Preceded by Earl of Coventry
1843–1930 		Succeeded by
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