George Coventry, 8th Earl of Coventry

The Earl of Coventry
The Right Honourable; The Earl of Coventry
Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of Worcestershire
	In office; 1838–1843
Member of Parliament for Worcester
	In office; 1816–1826 Serving with William Gordon, Thomas H. H. Davies
Preceded by	Abraham Robarts; William Gordon
Succeeded by	Thomas H. H. Davies; George Richard Robinson
Personal details
Born	16 October 1784
Died	15 May 1843 (aged 58)
Political party	Tory
Spouse(s)	Hon. Emma Susanna Lygon; (m. 1808; died 1810); Lady Mary Beauclerk; (m. 1811; his death 1843)
Relations	George Coventry, 6th Earl of Coventry (grandfather)
Children	3
Parents	George Coventry, 7th Earl of Coventry; Peggy Pitches
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford

George William Coventry, 8th Earl of Coventry (16 October 1784 – 15 May 1843), styled Viscount Deerhurst from 1809 to 1831, was a British peer and Tory Member of Parliament.

Hatchment in Church of St Mary Magdalene, Croome D'Abitot, showing arms of Coventry, Lygon and Beauclerk

Early life

Coventry was the eldest son of George Coventry, 7th Earl of Coventry, and his wife Peggy (née Pitches). His younger brother was the Hon. William Coventry and his sisters were Lady Augusta Coventry (wife of Gen. Sir Willoughby Cotton), Lady Barbara Coventry (wife of Lt. Col. Alexander Gregan-Crauford) and Lady Sophia Coventry (wife of Sir Roger Gresley, 3rd Bt and Sir William Des Voeux, 3rd Bt).[1]

His paternal grandparents were George Coventry, 6th Earl of Coventry and the former Maria Gunning (eldest daughter of Col. John Gunning of Castle Combe and Hon Bridget Bourke, a daughter of Theobald Bourke, 6th Viscount Mayo).[1] His mother was the second daughter and co-heiress of Sir Abraham Pitches, former High Sheriff of Surrey, and Jane Hassel (daughter of Robert Prowse Hassel of Wraytesbury).[1]

He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford.

Career

He was elected to the House of Commons as one of two representatives for Worcester in 1816, a seat he held until 1826. In 1831, he succeeded his father in the earldom and entered the House of Lords. In 1838, he served as Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire.[2]

Personal life

On 16 January 1808, Lord Coventry married the Hon. Emma Susanna Lygon, daughter of William Lygon, 2nd Baron Beauchamp, subsequently created 1st Earl Beauchamp. At around the time of his marriage, he was also involved with Sophia Dubochet, a girl in her early teens with whom he eloped and whom he subsequently kept as a mistress while she was courted by Thomas Noel Hill, 2nd Baron Berwick, who married her in 1812. Her relationship with Coventry (then Viscount Deerhurst) is recorded in some detail by Sophia's sister, the noted courtesan Harriette Wilson.[3] Before her death in 1810, Emma and George were the parents of:[1]

George William Coventry, Viscount Deerhurst (1808–1838), who married Harriet Anne Cockerell, eldest daughter of Sir Charles Cockerell, 1st Baronet, in 1836.[1]

On 6 November 1811, Coventry married secondly to Lady Mary Beauclerk, daughter of Aubrey Beauclerk, 6th Duke of St Albans.[4] Together, they were the parents of:[1]

Hon. Henry Amelius Coventry (1815–1873), who married Caroline Stirling Dundas, daughter of James Dundas, 28th of Dundas Castle and Hon. Mary Tufton Duncan (a daughter of Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan).[1]
Lady Mary Augusta Coventry (1812–1889), married Henry Fox, 4th Baron Holland in 1833.[1]

He died in May 1843, aged 58. His son from his first marriage had predeceased him and he was succeeded in his titles by Viscount Deerhurst's son, his grandson, George. Lady Coventry died on 11 September 1845, aged 54.[1]

Descendants

Through his second son Henry, he was a grandfather of Mary Eleanor Lauderdale Coventry (1847–1928), who married Henry Howard, 18th Earl of Suffolk and was the mother of his great-grandchildren, Henry Howard, 19th Earl of Suffolk, Hon. James Knyvett Estcourt Howard, Lady Mary Howard, Lady Eleanor Howard, Lady Agnes Howard, and Lady Katharine Howard.[5]

His granddaughter, Mary Augusta Henrietta Coventry (1841–1894), married John Turner Hopwood. His great-granddaughter, Geraldine Sarah Ponsonby (d. 1944), married Dermot Bourke, 7th Earl of Mayo.[1]

Memorial to Viscount Deerhurst, eldest son of the 8th Earl of Coventry, in the church at Croome Court
Memorials to the 8th (1784–1843) and the 10th Earl of Coventry (1900–1940) in the church at Croome Court

gollark: I use `saturating_sub` and stuff is converted to `u32`s.

gollark: Okay, I'm confused, this looks like integer overflow but I'm 22% sure my code is overflow-safe.

gollark: This is interesting! It looks like I might be undergoing some sort of "integer overflow", except my code was written to avoid this using some sort of subtraction thing I don't understand.

gollark: <@!319753218592866315> fix program.

gollark: In a very obvious way.

References

"Coventry, Earl of (E, 1697)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,
Harriette Wilson's Memoirs; selected and edited by Lesley Blanch. London: Phoenix Press, 2003
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, p. 475.
"Suffolk, Earl of (E, 1603)". cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Archived from the original on 25 April 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2019.

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Coventry
Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Abraham Robarts William Gordon	Member of Parliament for Worcester 1816–1826 With: William Gordon 1816–1818 Thomas Henry Hastings Davies 1818–1826	Succeeded by Thomas Henry Hastings Davies George Richard Robinson
Peerage of England
Preceded by George William Coventry	Earl of Coventry 1831–1843	Succeeded by George William Coventry

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[EarlCoventry-1] "Coventry, Earl of (E, 1697)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 20 September 2019.

[2] Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,

[memoirs-3] Harriette Wilson's Memoirs; selected and edited by Lesley Blanch. London: Phoenix Press, 2003

[4] 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, p. 475.

[EarlSuffolk-5] "Suffolk, Earl of (E, 1603)". cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Archived from the original on 25 April 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2019.