Hugh Fortescue, 2nd Earl Fortescue

The Right Honourable The Earl Fortescue KG PC
"Hugh, Earl Fortescue KG, Lord Lieutenant of Devon". Wearing Garter Star. Marble bust by Edward Bowring Stephens, 1861; Memorial Hall, West Buckland School, Devon
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
In office 13 March 1839 – 11 September 1841
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Viscount Melbourne
Preceded by	The Marquess of Normanby
Succeeded by	The Earl de Grey
Personal details
Born	13 February 1783 (1783-02-13)
Died	14 September 1861 (1861-09-15)
Nationality	British
Political party	Whig
Spouse(s)	(1) Lady Susan Ryder (1796–1827) (2) Elizabeth Geale (c. 1805–1896)
Alma mater	Brasenose College, Oxford

Arms of Fortescue: Azure, a bend engrailled argent plain cottised or. Motto: Forte Scutum Salus Ducum ("A Strong Shield is the Salvation of Leaders")

Hugh Fortescue, 2nd Earl Fortescue KG, PC (13 February 1783 – 14 September 1861), styled Viscount Ebrington from 1789 to 1841, was a British Whig politician. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1839 to 1841.

Background and education

Fortescue was the eldest son of Hugh Fortescue, 1st Earl Fortescue, and Hester Grenville, daughter of Prime Minister George Grenville. He was educated at Eton and Brasenose College, Oxford.

Political career

Fortescue first became an MP, for Barnstaple, just after his 21st birthday, and sat for various constituencies almost continuously until 1839. The latter year he was summoned to the House of Lords through a writ of acceleration in his father's junior title of Baron Fortescue, and then served under Lord Melbourne as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1839 to 1841 (when he succeeded his father in the earldom) and under Lord John Russell as Lord Steward from 1846 to 1850. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1839 and created a Knight of the Garter in 1856. Fortescue belonged to that section of the Whig party that welcomed much of the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon hoping for radical change in Britain. After Napoleon's first abdication and exile to Elba he arranged visits by other prominent Whigs to the Emperor.

Portraits

A statue of the Earl stands in Exeter Castle Yard, and his marble bust is displayed on the staircase of the Memorial Hall in West Buckland School. 49 of the Fortescue family portraits were saved from the disastrous fire at Castle Hill of 9 March 1934 with minor smoke damage, but were shortly afterwards all destroyed by fire when the delivery lorry returning them from the restorer caught fire whilst parked overnight pending their return to Castle Hill.

Co-founds West Buckland School

Foundation stone laid at West Buckland School by Earl Fortescue

"Devon County School, West Buckland, recently opened by Earl Fortescue". Print published in Illustrated London News, 1861

Portrait of Hugh Fortescue when Viscount Ebrington, painted between 1826–1841 by Frederick Christian Lewis Sr, after Joseph Slater. National Portrait Gallery, London, NPG D20597

Hugh Fortescue, 2nd Earl Fortescue (1783–1861). Engraving by W Holl from a painting by George Hayter (1792–1871)

In 1858 together with Rev. J.L. Brereton, Prebendary of Exeter Cathedral and Rector of West Buckland, he founded the Devon County School, situated on land between West Buckland and East Buckland donated by him from his North Devon estate centred at Filleigh. The school was intended to provide a top quality education to local boys, including therefore the sons of many of his tenant farmers; it continues today as West Buckland School, an independent private school. A marble bust of Earl Fortescue, sculpted in 1861 by Edward Bowring Stephens (1815–82), stands on the staircase of the school's Memorial Hall.

Marriage & progeny

Lord Fortescue married twice:

• Firstly in 1817 to Lady Susan Ryder (d.1827), daughter of Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby. They had the following issue:
  • Hugh Fortescue, 3rd Earl Fortescue (1818–1905)
  • Hon. John Fortescue, MP
  • Hon. Dudley Fortescue, MP
• Secondly in 1841, 14 years after the death of his first wife, to Elizabeth Geale (d. May 1896), daughter of Piers Geale and widow of Sir Marcus Somerville, 4th Baronet (c. 1775–1831).

Death & succession

Fortescue died in September 1861, aged 78, and was succeeded by his eldest son from his first marriage, Hugh Fortescue, 3rd Earl Fortescue.

Sources

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
• Lauder, Rosemary, Devon Families, Tiverton, 2002, Fortescue, pp. 75–82

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl Fortescue