Frederick Lygon, 6th Earl Beauchamp

The Right Honourable The Earl Beauchamp PC DL
Lord Steward of the Household
In office 21 February 1874 – 21 April 1880
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	Benjamin Disraeli
Preceded by	The Earl of Bessborough
Succeeded by	The Earl Sydney
Paymaster General
In office 24 June 1885 – 28 January 1886
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by	The Lord Wolverton
Succeeded by	The Lord Thurlow
In office 19 August 1886 – March 1887
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by	The Lord Thurlow
Succeeded by	The Earl Brownlow
Personal details
Born	10 November 1830
Died	19 February 1891 (aged 60) Madresfield Court, Worcestershire
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	(1) Lady Mary Stanhope (1844-1876) (2) Lady Emily Pierrepont (1853-1935)
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford

Frederick Lygon, 6th Earl Beauchamp PC DL (10 November 1830 – 19 February 1891), styled The Honourable Frederick Lygon between 1853 and 1866, was a British Conservative politician.

Background and education

Beauchamp was the third son of Henry Lygon, 4th Earl Beauchamp, and Lady Susan Caroline, daughter of William Eliot, 2nd Earl of St Germans. He was educated at Eton, was President of the Oxford Union in 1851 and graduated from Christ Church, Oxford in 1856 with an MA degree.

Political career

Beauchamp was Member of Parliament for Tewkesbury from 1857 to 1863 and for West Worcestershire from 1863 to 1866. On 4 March 1866 he inherited the earldom of Beauchamp on the death of his childless brother. He served under Benjamin Disraeli as Lord Steward of the Household between 1874 and 1880 and under Lord Salisbury as Paymaster-General between 1885 and 1886 and again between 1886 and 1887. In 1874 he was sworn of the Privy Council.^[1] He was also Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire between 1876 and 1891.

Family

Lady Mary Stanhope

Lord Beauchamp married Lady Mary Stanhope (3 February 1844 – 30 June 1876), daughter of Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl Stanhope and his wife Emily Harriet Kerrison, at St George's Church in Hanover Square, London on 18 February 1868. They had five children:

• Lady Mary Lygon (26 February 1869–12 September 1927), married 1905 Lt.-Col. Henry Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis (a son of the 20th Baron Clinton) and had issue. Lady Mary was a close friend and correspondent of her brother Lord Beauchamp. She was a friend and promoter of the composer Edward Elgar and commemorated anonymously in one of his Enigma Variations entitled "Romanza (***)".
• Lady Susan Lygon (24 May 1870 – 28 January 1962), married 1889 Sir Robert Gilmour, 1st Baronet, and had issue.
• William Lygon, Viscount Elmley, later 7th Earl Beauchamp (1872–1938)
• Lieutenant The Hon. Edward Hugh Lygon (1873–1900), killed in the Second Boer War.
• Lady Margaret Lygon^[2] (1874–1957), married the 2nd Baron Ampthill and had issue.

Lady Beauchamp died in 1876, and on 24 September 1878 Lord Beauchamp married Lady Emily Pierrepont (16 March 1853 – 11 May 1935), daughter of the 3rd Earl Manvers and his wife Georgiana Jane E. F. de Franquetot, at Perlethorpe in Nottinghamshire. They had four children, two sons and two daughters:

• Hon. Robert Lygon (9 August 1879 – 13 January 1952); m.10 Oct 1903 Cecil Albinia Arbuthnot; they had issue, one son Reginald (who died in 1976, aged 72, shortly before his half-cousin the 8th Earl; he had only daughters).
• Hon. Henry Lygon (10 April 1884 – 23 February 1936) who died unmarried aged 51.
• Lady Agnes Lygon (7 December 1880 – 1960); m. 1906 Hon. Arthur George Villiers Peel (27 Feb 1868-25 Apr 1956), and had issue.
• Lady Maud Lygon, later Lady Maud Hoare, and still later (1944) Viscountess Templewood (5 July 1882 – 27 December 1962) married 1909 Samuel Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood (1880–1959); they had no issue. Lady Maud was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1927.

Lord Beauchamp died on 19 February 1891, aged 60, at his home, Madresfield Court, from a heart attack he suffered at dinner that night. His eighteen-year-old eldest son William succeeded him in the earldom. He was buried in the grounds of Madresfield Court, in the remains of the Old Church's graveyard, under a large stone cross.

Styles of address

• 1830-1853: Mr Frederick Lygon
• 1853-1857: The Honourable Frederick Lygon
• 1857-1866: The Honourable Frederick Lygon MP^[3]
• 1866-1874: The Right Honourable The Earl Beauchamp^[3]
• 1874-1891: The Right Honourable The Earl Beauchamp PC^[1][3]

References

1. The London Gazette: no. 24072. p. 1519. 6 March 1874.
2. "Margaret Russell (née Lygon), Lady Ampthill (1874-1957), wife of 2nd Baron Ampthill; daughter of the 6th Earl Beauchamp". National Portrait Gallery, London.
3. "Frederick Lygon, 6th Earl Beauchamp". The Peerage. Retrieved 30 May 2016.

Sources

• Paul Theroff Descendants of Henry VII, King of England: Part 11. Retrieved 6 June 2008.

External links

• Works by or about Frederick Lygon, 6th Earl Beauchamp at Internet Archive
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Frederick Lygon