1st Earl of Ellesmere

1st Earl of Ellesmere
Title:1st Earl of
Surname:Ellesmere
Year elected:1823
Last year on list:1856
Elected as:Lord Francis Leveson-Gower
MembershipMember
Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere KG, (1800-1857), known as Lord Francis Leveson-Gower until 1833, was the second son of George Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland and his wife, Elizabeth Gordon, 19th Countess of Sutherland.

Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, he served as MP for Bletchingley 1822-26, Sutherland 1826-31, and South Lancashire 1835-46.  A moderate Conservative, he supported free trade, Catholic emancipation and the establishment of the University of London.  He was Appointed a Lord of the Treasury in 1827, and Chief Secretary for Ireland 1828-30.

In 1839 he sailed to the Mediterranean, recording his thoughts on the Holy Land in a book of poems, Mediterranean Sketches (1843).  He published one of the first English translations of Goethe's Faust, and several historical and poetical works of his own.  He was also a generous patron of the arts, adding knowledgeably to the collection of pictures which he inherited from his great-uncle, the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, and building a gallery at his London home with free entry for the public.

He was a trustee of the National Gallery and a founder of the National Portrait Gallery, to which he donated the Chandos portrait of Shakespeare.

He served as Rector of Aberdeen University, President of the Royal Geographical Society and President of the Royal Asiatic Society.  Ellesmere Lake in New Zealand and Ellesmere Island in the Arctic were named after him.

Yachts Owned

NameRig ClassfromtoMMSI
Experiment Yawl 1825 1827  
Owen Glendower Cutter 1835 1836  
Menai Brigantine 1839 1843  
Erminia Topsail Schooner 1850 1856  

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