Memoirs of the Reign of George III, i. 388). While at the head of the admiralty he is said to have ‘wasted between four and five hundred thousand pounds on pompous additions to the dockyards’ (ib. iv. 204). He was, however, a great favourite with the shipwrights, whose claims he appears to have advocated, and his birthday was usually celebrated at Deptford and Woolwich with great rejoicings. The settlement formed on the West Falkland by Commodore Byron's expedition in 1765 received the name of Port Egmont in his honour.
He married first, on 15 Feb. 1737, Lady Catherine Cecil, second daughter of James, fifth earl of Salisbury, by whom he had five sons—viz.: John James, who succeeded as the third earl; Cecil Parker, born on 19 Oct. 1739, who died at Eton on 4 March 1753; Philip Tufton, born on 10 March 1742, a captain in the royal navy; Edward, born on 19 April 1744, a captain in the royal dragoon guards, who married, on 27 July 1775, Sarah, daughter of John Howarth, and died in 1824; and Frederick Augustus, born on 11 Feb. 1749, who died on 21 Jan. 1757—and two daughters, viz.: Catherine, who was married, on 13 Sept. 1766, to Thomas Wynn (afterwards first Baron Newborough), and died in June 1782; and Margaret, who died an infant on 23 Jan. 1750. His first wife died on 16 Aug. 1752, aged 33; and Egmont married, secondly, on 26 Jan. 1756, Catherine, third daughter of the Hon. Charles Compton who was created Baroness Arden of Lohort Castle in the county of Cork on 23 May 1770, with remainder to her heirs male. By his second wife Egmont had three sons—viz.: Charles George, born on 1 Oct. 1756, who succeeded his mother as Baron Arden in the peerage of Ireland, and was created a peer of the United Kingdom, with the title of Baron Arden of Arden in the county of Warwick; Spencer [q. v.], who became prime minister; and Henry, who died on 27 July 1772, aged 7—and six daughters, viz.: Mary, who was married, on 2 April 1781, to Andrew Berkeley Drummond of Cadlands, Hampshire, grandson of William, fourth viscount Strathallan, and died on 18 Sept. 1839; Anne, who died on 1 Aug. 1772, aged 12; Charlotte, who died an infant on 19 Feb. 1761; Elizabeth, who died, unmarried, on 4 April 1846, aged 82; Frances, who was married, on 6 June 1803, to John, first baron Redesdale, and died on 22 Aug. 1817; and Margaret, who was married, on 1 Dec. 1803, to Thomas Walpole, sometime ambassador at Munich, a nephew of Horatio, first earl of Orford (created 1806), and died on 12 Dec. 1854. Lady Egmont survived her husband, and died at Langley, Buckinghamshire, on 11 June 1784, aged 53.
Engravings of Egmont and his first wife by Faber after Zinck will be found in the second volume of the ‘General History of the House of Yvery’ (opp. pp. 455, 457). There are also engravings of Egmont by McArdell after Hudson, and by Faber after Hayman. A portrait of Egmont with his second wife, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, was lent by the seventh earl to the winter exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1875 (Catalogue, No. 90).
The authorship of ‘Considerations on the Present Dangerous Crisis’ (London, 1763, 8vo), written by Owen Ruffhead, has been erroneously attributed to Egmont (Nichols, Lit. Anecd. viii. 235), to whom ‘Things as they are’ (pt. i. London, 1758, 8vo, pt. ii. London, 1761, 8vo) has also been ascribed. According to Walpole, it was generally supposed that Egmont was the author of the ‘Constitutional Queries earnestly recommended to the Serious Consideration of every true Briton’ which were ordered to be burnt by the common hangman in January 1751 (Memoirs of the Reign of George II, i. 9, 427–9). Besides ‘Faction Detected,’ Egmont also wrote: 1. ‘The Question of the Precedency of the Peers of Ireland in England fairly stated. In a Letter to an English Lord by a Nobleman of the other Kingdom,’ Dublin, 1739, 8vo (anon.); another edit. 1761, London, 8vo. According to the preface, this pamphlet was published ‘without the knowledge or concurrence’ of the author. Though generally ascribed to his father, it appears to have been written by the second earl (Hist. MSS. Comm. 12th Rep. App. x. 16). 2. ‘An Examination of the Principles and an Enquiry into the Conduct of the two B——rs [the Duke of Newcastle and Henry Pelham] in regard to the Establishment of their Power and their Prosecution of the War 'till the Signing of the Preliminaries,’ &c., London, 1749, 8vo (anon.) 3. ‘A Second Series of Facts and Arguments; tending to Prove that the Abilities of the two B——rs are not more extraordinary than their Virtues,’ &c., London, 1749, 8vo (anon.) 4. ‘An Occasional Letter from a Gentleman in the Country to his Friends in Town concerning the Treaty negotiated at Hanau in the Year 1743,’ &c., London, 1749, 8vo. 5. ‘A Proposal for selling part of the Forest Land and Chases, and disposing of the Produce towards the discharge of that part of the National Debt due to the Bank of England, and for the Establishment of a National Bank,’ London, 1763, 4to. 6. ‘The Memorial of John, Earl of Egmont, to the King’ [desiring ‘from his
