Egerton, Francis, 1st Earl of Ellesmere (1800 -1857)

Lord Francis Leveson Gower, was the second son of George Granville, 1st Duke of Sutherland, and Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland in her own right. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, leaving Oxford in 1820. He married, 18 June 1822, Harriet Catherine, elder daughter of Charles Greville. He was elected Member of Parliament for Bletchingley in Surrey in 1820, for Sutherland 1826 1830 and South Lancashire 1835 1846. He was also Lord of the Treasury 1827, Chief Secretary for Ireland 1828 1830, and Secretary for War for a few months in 1830. At a time when German was not widely understood in this country, he translated Goethe's Faust, and some other German poetry, wrote verse, was a regular contributor to the Quarterly Review, and published a travel book Mediterranean sketches in 1848. Lord Francis assumed the name and arms of Egerton on the death of his father in 1833, in compliance with the will of his great uncle Francis Egerton, 3rd and last Duke of Bridgewater. He was raised to the peerage as Earl of Ellesmere and Viscount Brackley 6 July 1846. The Egerton library is now mostly in the Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, California.