Robert Grosvenor, 1st Baron Ebury

The Right Honourable
The Lord Ebury
PC

Lord Ebury caricatured by 'Ape' in Vanity Fair in 1871.
Comptroller of the Household
In office
23 November 1830  9 July 1834
Monarch William IV
Prime Minister The Earl Grey
The Viscount Melbourne
Preceded by Lord George Beresford
Succeeded by Henry Lowry-Corry
Treasurer of the Household
In office
3 August 1846  23 July 1847
Monarch Victoria
Prime Minister Lord John Russell
Preceded by Earl Jermyn
Succeeded by Lord Marcus Hill
Personal details
Born 24 April 1801
Died 18 November 1893 (1893-11-19) (aged 92)
Nationality British
Political party Whig
Spouse(s) Hon. Charlotte
Wellesley (d. 1891)
Alma mater Christ Church, Oxford

Robert Grosvenor, 1st Baron Ebury PC (24 April 1801 18 November 1893), styled Lord Robert Grosvenor from 1831 to 1857, was a British courtier and Whig politician. He served as Comptroller of the Household between 1830 and 1834 and as Treasurer of the Household between 1846 and 1847. In 1857 he was ennobled as Baron Ebury.

Background and education

Grosvenor was the third son of Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster and his wife Eleanora, daughter of Thomas Egerton, 1st Earl of Wilton. He was the younger brother of Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster and Thomas Grosvenor Egerton, 2nd Earl of Wilton, who had succeeded their maternal grandfather in the earldom of Wilton 1814, while Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster and Richard Grosvenor, 1st Baron Stalbridge were his nephews.[1] He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford.[2]

Political career

In 1821 Grosvenor was returned to Parliament for Shaftesbury, a seat he held until 1826,[3] and then sat for Chester until 1847.[4] When the Whigs came to power in November 1830 under Lord Grey, Grosvenor was appointed Comptroller of the Household and admitted to the Privy Council.[5] He retained this office also when Lord Melbourne became Prime Minister in July 1834. The Whig government fell in November the same year. Grosvenor did not serve in Melbourne's second administration which lasted from 1835 to 1841. However, when the Whigs returned to office in 1846 under Lord John Russell he was made Treasurer of the Household,[6] which he remained until his resignation in July 1847.[7] The latter year Grosvenor was returned to Parliament for Middlesex, a seat he held until 1857.[8] However, he never returned to office. In September 1857 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Ebury, of Ebury Manor in the County of Middlesex.[9]

Apart from his political career Lord Ebury was an active campaigner for Protestantism in the Church of England, and was the founder and President of the society for the "revision of the prayer-book". He was also involved in the movement led by Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury for the improvement of factory working hours. In later life he came to oppose William Ewart Gladstone on the issue of Irish Home Rule. In September 1893, at the age of 92, Lord Ebury voted against the Second Home Rule Bill, by far the oldest peer to vote in the matter.

Lord Ebury was also a fervent supporter of Homeopathy, the medical doctrine introduced by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. He was a patron of both Dr Curie's short-lived Homoeopathic Hospital in Bloomsbury Square and Dr Quin's London Homoeopathic Hospital. Lord Ebury served as Chairman and President of the London Homoeopathic Hospital from its foundation in 1849 and during that time even defended the practice and the institution against its opponents in Parliament.[2]

Lord Ebury's mansion at Moor Park

In 1860 Lord Ebury led a business venture with the Great Western Railway to build a 13-kilometre (8.1 mi) railway from Watford, near his mansion at Moor Park, to Uxbridge in Buckinghamshire. The scheme failed and the line, the Watford and Rickmansworth Railway, only reached as far as Rickmansworth, 7.2 kilometres (4.5 mi) south of Watford. The railway never operated at a profit and eventually closed in 1952, but has since been converted into a cycle path which bears his name, the Ebury Way.[10]

Family

Lord Ebury married the Honourable Charlotte Arbuthnot Wellesley, eldest daughter of Henry Wellesley, 1st Baron Cowley, in 1831. They had five sons and two daughters. One of the sons, the Honourable Norman Grosvenor, represented Chester in Parliament. Lord Ebury died in November 1893, aged 92, and was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son Robert.[2]

References

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Ralph Leycester
Abraham Moore
Member of Parliament for Shaftesbury
18221826
With: Ralph Leycester
Succeeded by
Ralph Leycester
Edward Davies Davenport
Preceded by
Thomas Grosvenor
Viscount Belgrave
Member of Parliament for Chester
18261847
With: Viscount Belgrave 1826–1830
Sir Philip Grey Egerton, Bt 18301831
Foster Cunliffe-Offley 18311832
John Finchett Maddock 1832
Sir John Jervis 1832–1847
Succeeded by
Sir John Jervis
Earl Grosvenor
Preceded by
George Byng
Thomas Wood
Member of Parliament for Middlesex
1847 – 1857
With: Thomas Wood 1847
Ralph Bernal Osborne 1847–1857
Robert Culling Hanbury 1857
Succeeded by
Hon. George Byng
Robert Culling Hanbury
Political offices
Preceded by
Lord George Beresford
Comptroller of the Household
18301834
Succeeded by
Henry Lowry-Corry
Preceded by
Earl Jermyn
Treasurer of the Household
18461847
Succeeded by
Lord Marcus Hill
Court offices
Preceded by
None
Groom of the Stole to Prince Albert
18401841
Succeeded by
The Marquess of Exeter
Honorary titles
Preceded by
The Marquess of Donegall
Senior Privy Counsellor
1883–1893
Succeeded by
The Earl Grey
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Ebury
18571893
Succeeded by
Robert Wellesley Grosvenor
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