Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough
Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough (* January 24, 1758, † February 3, 1844 ) was an Irish nobleman and ( Whig ) politician. Until 1793, he led the courtesy title Viscount Duncannon.
Life
Ponsonby was the only son of three children of the politician William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough ( 1704-1793 ) and his wife Lady Caroline Cavendish ( 1719-1760 ), a daughter of William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire, and the Catherine Hoskins. In February 1758 he was baptized at St Marylebone Church in London's Marylebone.
In October 1774 to Ponsonby wrote to the Christ Church College, one of Oxford University, where he studied philosophy and politics. Three years later he graduated with a Master of Arts (Latin Magister Artium ). Then he went on the Grand Tour and toured France, Italy, Constantine Opel and the Holy Land. After his two- year absence doctorate Ponsonby at the University of Oxford with a doctorate in civil law ( Doctorate of Civil Law ). Between 1780-1793 he was elected Member of Parliament ( Whig ) in the House of Commons for the District of Knaresborough in the county of Yorkshire.
On November 27, 1780 Frederick Ponsonby married at St James Church in London Lady Henrietta Frances Spencer ( 1761-1821 ), the second daughter of John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer and Margaret Georgiana Poyntz. His wife was the paternal great- great-granddaughter of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, the victor at the Battle of Blenheim in the War of Spanish Succession. From a long-standing love affair with the politician Granville Leveson - Gower, 1st Earl Granville, had his wife - with his approval - two illegitimate children, Harriett Stewart and George Stewart. From the marriage, which by all accounts was a turbulent but also harmonious, went four children:
- John William (1781-1847), later 4th Earl of Bessborough ∞ 1805 Lady Mary Fane ( 1787-1834 )
- Frederick Cavendish (1783-1837), Major - General ∞ 1825 Lady Emily Charlotte Bathurst († 1877)
- Caroline (1785-1828) ∞ 1805 William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne ( 1779-1848 )
- William Francis Spencer (1787-1855), 1st Baron de Mauley ∞ 1814 Lady Barbara Ashley -Cooper († 1844)
In the following years, the most important political figures gathered for talks in his London town house, including Charles James Fox, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Lord Byron or Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey. Even with the then Prince of Wales, later King George IV and William Pitt the Younger, the couple Ponsonby was intimately familiar. Together with William Pitt campaigned for Catholic Emancipation in Ireland, but the king did not approve - it Pitt in 1802 resigned as Prime Minister.