Granville Leveson Gower 1st Earl Granville 1773 – 1846

Granville Leveson Gower 1st Earl Granville GCB PC 1773 – 1846, known as Lord Granville Leveson Gower from 1786 to 1814 and as the Viscount Granville from 1814 to 1833, was a British Whig statesman and diplomat.

Earl Granville, and his wife Harriet were patients of Richard and Robert Verity,

Earl Granville was related to Hugh Lupus Grosvenor 1st Duke of Westminster, Richard Grosvenor Earl Grosvenor 2nd Marquess of Westminster, and to Francis Egerton 1st Earl of Ellesmere,

Harriet Granville was the daughter of William Cavendish 5th Duke of Devonshire and his first wife Lady Georgiana Spencer, whose friend Elizabeth Christiana Hervey Duchess of Devonshire became the second wife of William Cavendish 5th Duke of Devonshire, and who was the presumed mother of Frederick Hervey Foster Quin (who was also her personal physician). Harriet was also the cousin of Frederick Ponsonby 3rd Earl of Bessborough, who was also a personal friend of of Frederick Hervey Foster Quin,

Granville was a son of Granville Leveson Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford and his third wife Lady Susannah Stewart, daughter of Alexander Stewart 6th Earl of Galloway. He was also a younger, paternal half brother of George Leveson Gower 1st Duke of Sutherland. He was educated at Dr Kyle’s school at Hammersmith, and then by the Revd John Chappel Woodhouse, before matriculating at Christ Church, Oxford, in April 1789. He took no degree, but became a DCL in 1799.

He served as British ambassador to Russia (10 August 1804 - 28 November 1805 and 1806-1807) and France (1824-1828, 1830-1835, 1835-1841).

In 1815 he was raised to the peerage as Viscount Granville, of Stone Park in the County of Stafford. In 1833, he was further honoured when he was created Baron Leveson, of Stone Park in the County of Stafford, and Earl Granville.

Lord Granville married Lady Harriet Cavendish (1785-1862), daughter of William Cavendish 5th Duke of Devonshire and Lady Georgiana Spencer, in 1809. They had two sons and two daughters. Their eldest son, Granville Leveson Gower 2nd Earl Granville, became a distinguished politician. Their second son Edward Leveson Gower was also a politician. Their daughter Lady Georgiana married Alexander Fullerton. She was a biographer, novelist and great philanthropist.

Lord Granville died in January 1846, aged 72. The Countess Harriet Granville died in November 1862, aged 77.

Lord Granville, prior to marrying Lady Harriet Cavendish, was the lover of Lady Harriet’s maternal aunt, Henrietta Ponsonby Countess of Bessborough, nee Lady Henrietta Frances Spencer, with whom he fathered two illegitimate children: Harriette Stewart and George Stewart.

Of interest:

Granville George Leveson Gower 2nd Earl Granville KG, PC 1815 – 1891, was a British Liberal statesman. In a political career spanning over 50 years, he was thrice Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, led the Liberal Party in the House of Lords for almost 30 years and was joint Leader of the Liberal Party between 1875 and 1880.

Granville served under William Ewert Gladstone, and he was a friend of Frederick Hervey Foster Quin:

From Thomas Lindsley Bradford (ed.), The __Pioneers of Homeopathy, (Philadelphia: Boericke & Tafel, 1897).  We have as yet said nothing of Dr. Quin’s  private practice. From the first it was most extensive, while his patients went almost exclusively drawn from the very highest class of society.

From Arlington Street he moved to Mount Street, where his health began to fail, and compelled him to retire to a considerable extent ; so that from the time he left Mount Street he never laid himself out for practice, albeit he continued to see those patients who would consult no one but himself, seeing such an one but a few days before his last illness.

On leaving Mount Street, Lord Granville, who entertained the warmest friendship and admiration for Frederick Hervey Foster Quin, invited him to live at his lordship’s house in Brunton Street ; after residing there a short time, and during a very severe illness, he removed to Belgrave Mansions ; here he remained till his lease expired. While looking for other quarters, Alfred Duke of Edinburgh, then abroad, wrote to him, begging him to occupy apartments at Clarence House.

George Granville William Sutherland Leveson Gower 3rd Duke of Sutherland made a similar offer of Stafford House for his use ; he accepted the gracious offer of Alfred Duke of Edinburgh, and resided at Clarence House till the Duke and Duchess returned to town, when, although pressed to remain, he took a suit of rooms in Queen Anne’s Mansions, where he died at the advanced age of seventy nine.