John Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough

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John William Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough, PC (31 August 1781 – 16 May 1847), known as Viscount Duncannon from 1793 to 1844, was a British Whig politician. He was notably Home Secretary in 1834 and served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland between 1846 and 1847, the first years of the Great Famine.

Background and education

File:John Hoppner, Portrait of Harriet, Viscountess Duncannon with Her Sons (1787).jpg
Henrietta Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough, with her sons William and John by John Hoppner (1787)

A member of the prominent Ponsonby family of Cumberland, he was the eldest son of Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough, and Lady Henrietta Frances Spencer, daughter of John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer. Sir Frederick Ponsonby and William Ponsonby, 1st Baron de Mauley, were his younger brothers, while Lady Caroline Lamb was his younger sister. Ponsonby's mother was Lord Granville's lover before his marriage to Lady Harriet Cavendish, the Countess of Bessborough's niece. Lord Granville fathered two illegitimate children through her: Harriette Stewart and George Stewart. Lord Bessborough was educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford.

Political career

He was First Commissioner of Woods and Forests under Lord Grey (1831–1834) and served under Lord Melbourne in that office (1835–1841), briefly as Home Secretary (1834), and as Lord Privy Seal (1835–1839). Later, he served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland under Lord John Russell from 1846 until his death on 16 May 1847. During his service, the Great Famine (Ireland) progressed. He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1831, and in 1834, ten years before he succeeded his father, he was created Baron Duncannon, of Bessborough in the County of Kilkenny. He was Lord Lieutenant of Kilkenny from November 1838 until his death.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He had a stammer, which made him a very reluctant public speaker, believing that it hampered his political career. As Lord Duncannon, he was unkindly nicknamed "Dumbcannon". In private, on the other hand, he was regarded as a valued colleague in Government, due largely to his ability to keep his head in a crisis. He was one of the so-called Committee of Four who drafted the Reform Act 1832.

Marriage and issue

File:Neale(1818) p6.220 - Bessborough House, Kilkenny.jpg
Bessborough House, family seat of the Earls of Bessborough, in County Kilkenny, Ireland (1818)

John Ponsonby married Lady Maria Fane, daughter of John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland, and his wife Sarah (née Child), on 16 November 1805 at Berkeley Square, London. They had eight sons and six daughters.<ref name="debretts">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="London Encyclopaedia" />

Their daughter Lady Emily Charlotte Mary remained unmarried, but she wrote several novels which were published without attribution.<ref>Template:Cite DNB</ref> Through his daughter Lady Augusta Gore, Bessborough was the grandfather of sportsman Spencer Gore, who won the first Wimbledon singles title in 1877; and the Rt. Rev. Charles Gore, the Bishop of Oxford, and barrister Sir Francis Charles Gore.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Children of Lord and Lady Bessborough:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The Viscountess Duncannon died in March 1834 at the age of 46.<ref name="debretts" /> Lord Bessborough survived her by thirteen years and died in May 1847, aged 65. He was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest son, John, and subsequently by his younger sons Frederick and Walter.Bessborough Gardens in London was named in his honor<ref name="London Encyclopaedia">The London Encyclopaedia, Ben Weinreb & Christopher Hibbert, Macmillan, 1995, Template:ISBN.</ref>

References

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