Edward Noel, 1st Earl of Gainsborough

Edward Noel, 1st Earl of Gainsborough, 4th Viscount Campden (1641 – January 1689) was a British peer, styled Hon. Edward Noel from 1660 to 1681.

Posthumous portrait of Edward Noel, 1st Earl of Gainsborough (by J. Henesy, 1737)
Arms of Noel: Or, fretty gules a canton ermine

Origins edit

Edward Noel was born in 1641, the son and heir of Baptist Noel, 3rd Viscount Campden.

Career edit

Noel represented Rutland in the House of Commons of England from 1661 to 1679. He was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Rutland in March 1670. In 1676, he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire in February, and Warden and Keeper of the New Forest in March.

After being appointed Colonel of the Hampshire Militia in 1678, he was briefly knight of the shire for Hampshire in 1679. On 3 February 1681, he was created Baron Noel and entered the House of Lords, and was appointed Custos Rotulorum of Hampshire. In 1682, he was given several local offices in Hampshire: Governor of Portsmouth, Constable of Porchester Castle, and Lieutenant of South Bere Forest. He succeeded his father in October as Viscount Campden and as Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of Rutland, and was further honoured at the end of the year when he was created Earl of Gainsborough on 1 December 1682.[1]

Between December 1687 and January 1688, during the purge of James II, he was dismissed from all his Hampshire offices in favour of the Duke of Berwick, although he was commissioned a captain in the Queen Dowager's Regiment of Foot in 1687. He was also replaced by Earl of Peterborough as Lord Lieutenant of Rutland at this time.[1]

On 25 March 1688, he was reappointed Warden and Keeper of the New Forest and the Park of Lyndhurst.[1]

Marriages and issue edit

He married twice:

 
Arms of Wriothesley: Azure, a cross or between four hawks close argent

Death and succession edit

He died in January 1689 and was succeeded by his son Wriothesley Baptist Noel, 2nd Earl of Gainsborough.

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Doyle, James William Edmund (1886). The Official Baronage of England, v. 2. London: Longmans, Green. p. 1.
Parliament of England
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Rutland
1661–1679
With: Philip Sherard
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Hampshire
1679
With: Richard Norton
Succeeded by
Honorary titles
Preceded by Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire
1676–1687
Served alongside: Viscount Campden 1684–1687
Succeeded by
Preceded by Custos Rotulorum of Hampshire
1681–1688
Preceded by Governor of Portsmouth
1682–1687
Preceded by Lord Lieutenant of Rutland
1682–1688
Served alongside: Viscount Campden 1685–1688
Succeeded by
Custos Rotulorum of Rutland
1682–1689
Succeeded by
Peerage of England
New creation Earl of Gainsborough
1682–1689
Succeeded by
Preceded by Viscount Campden
1682–1689
New creation Baron Noel
1681–1689