George Villiers, 4th Earl of Jersey

George Bussy Villiers, 4th Earl of Jersey, PC (9 June 1735 – 22 August 1805, Tunbridge Wells) was an English nobleman, peer, politician and courtier at the court of George III.

George Villiers, 4th Earl of Jersey

He was the oldest surviving son of William Villiers, 3rd Earl of Jersey, and his wife, the former Lady Anne Egerton, the daughter of Scroop Egerton, 1st Duke of Bridgewater, and widow of Wriothesley Russell, 3rd Duke of Bedford.

Parliament edit

 
Arms of the 4th Earl of Jersey in 1790

Between 1756 and his father's death in 1769, which took him into the House of Lords, he served continuously in the House of Commons as MP for, in turn, Tamworth in Staffordshire, Aldborough in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and Dover in Kent. He followed the political lead of the Duke of Grafton in both the Commons and Lords. He was a Lord of the Admiralty from 1761 to 1763 and was sworn of the Privy Council on 11 July 1765 and served as Vice-Chamberlain from 1765 to 1769.

On his elevation to the peerage in 1769, he was made a Gentleman of the Bedchamber to George III (1769–1777) and served as Master of the Buckhounds (1782–1783) and in other court posts until 1800. Because of his courtly manners was called the "Prince of Maccaronies."[1]

He was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1787.

Family edit

 
Middleton Park, Oxfordshire - seat of the Earls of Jersey, c. 1830

Lord Jersey married Frances Twysden at her stepfather's house in the parish of St Martin-in-the-Fields on 26 March 1770. Lady Jersey, who was seventeen years younger than her husband, became one of the more notorious mistresses of George IV in 1793, when he was still Prince of Wales. She was 40 years old at the time and more than once a grandmother.

Lord and Lady Jersey had ten children:

Ancestry edit

References edit

  1. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Jersey, Earls of" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 330.

External links edit

  Media related to George Villiers, 4th Earl of Jersey at Wikimedia Commons

Political offices
Preceded by Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
1765–1769
Succeeded by
Preceded by Master of the Buckhounds
1782–1783
Succeeded by
Preceded by Captain of the Gentlemen Pensioners
1783
Succeeded by
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Tamworth
1756–1765
With: Sir Robert Burdett, Bt
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Aldborough
1765–1768
With: Nathaniel Cholmley
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Dover
1768–1769
With: Sir Joseph Yorke
Succeeded by
Peerage of England
Preceded by Earl of Jersey
1769–1805
Succeeded by