George Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle

22
George Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle bigraphy, stories - British politician

George Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle : biography

18 April 1802 – 5 December 1864

George William Frederick Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle KG, PC (18 April 1802 – 5 December 1864), styled Viscount Morpeth from 1825 to 1848, was a British politician, statesman and orator.

Bulmer Hill monument

On Bulmer Hill, about a mile from Bulmer village, is a monumental column, the Carlisle Memorial Column, erected by public subscription to his memory in 1869–70. It is inscribed:

" AD MDCCCLXIX: IN PRIVATE LIFE WAS LOVED/ BY ALL WHO KNEW HIM/ BY HIS PUBLIC CONDUCT/ WON the RESPECT of his COUNTRY/ and LEFT THE BRIGHT EXAMPLE/ OF A TRVE PATRIOT/ AND EARNEST CHRISTIAN/ VIIth EARL of CARLISLE"

Notes

Personal life

Lord Carlisle died unmarried at Castle Howard in December 1864, aged 62, and was buried in the family mausoleum. He was succeeded in the earldom by his younger brother, Reverend William George Howard.

Background and education

Carlisle was born in Westminster, London, the eldest son of George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle by his wife Lady Georgiana Cavendish, eldest daughter of William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire. Lord Lanerton and Charles Howard were his younger brothers. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, where he earned a reputation as a scholar and writer of graceful verse, obtaining in 1821 both the chancellor’s and the Newdigate prizes for a Latin poem, Paestum,‘The Pride of Yorkshire’, leaflet for exhibition on George Howard, Castle Howard, 2010 and an English one. He maintained his interest in poetry throughout his life, exchanging sonnets with William Wordsworth. In 1826 he accompanied his maternal grandfather, the Duke of Devonshire, to the Russian Empire, to attend the coronation of Tsar Nicholas I, and became a great favourite in society at St Petersburg.

Political career

At the general election in 1826 Carlisle was returned to parliament as member for the family borough of Morpeth, a seat he held until 1830, and then represented Yorkshire until 1832 and the West Riding of Yorkshire from 1832 to 1841 and from 1846 to 1848. The latter year he succeeded his father in the earldom and entered the House of Lords.

Carlisle served under Lord Melbourne as Chief Secretary for Ireland between 1835 and 1841, under Lord John Russell as First Commissioner of Woods and Forests from 1846 to 1850 and as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from 1850 to 1852 and under Lord Palmerston as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1855 to 1858 and again from 1859 to 1864. In 1835 he was appointed to the Privy Councils of the United Kingdom and Ireland. On 2 April 1853, he was given the Freedom of the City of Edinburgh,Gilbert, W.M., Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century, Edinburgh, 1901: 124 and in 1855, he was made a Knight of the Garter.