Buckingham, on the 11th of February 1813, and was buried at Wotton. In 1775 he had married Mary Elizabeth (d. 1812), daughter of Robert, Earl Nugent.
His elder son, Richard Grenville, 1st duke of Buckingham and Chandos (1776–1839), was one of the members of parliament for Buckinghamshire from 1797 to 1813, and, as Earl Temple, took an active part in politics. In February 1813 he succeeded his father as marquess of Buckingham; and having married the only child of the 3rd duke of Chandos, he was created duke of Buckingham and Chandos in 1822. He died in 1839. Owing to financial embarrassments, the duke lived out of England for some time, and in 1862 an account of his travels was published, as The Private Diary of Richard, Duke of Buckingham and Chandos.
He was succeeded by his only child, Richard Grenville, 2nd duke of Buckingham and Chandos (1797–1861). Educated at Eton and Oriel College, Oxford, he was known as Earl Temple and subsequently as marquess of Chandos. He was member of parliament for Buckinghamshire from 1818 to 1839, and was responsible for the “Chandos clause” in the Reform Bill of 1832. He was lord privy seal from September 1841 to January 1842, and partly owing to his opposition to the repeal of the corn laws was known as the “Farmers’ Friend.” He found the estates heavily encumbered when he succeeded to the dukedom in 1839, and his own generous and luxurious tastes brought matters to a climax. In 1847 his residences were seized by his creditors, and the duke left England. His personal property and many of his landed estates were sold, and returning to England he devoted himself to literature. He died in London, on the 29th of July 1861. His wife, whom he married in 1819, was Mary (d. 1862), daughter of John, 1st marquess of Breadalbane, and she obtained a divorce from him in 1850. Buckingham’s chief publications are, Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George III. (London, 1853–1855); Memoirs of the Court of England, 1811–1820 (London, 1856); Memoirs of the Court of George IV. (London, 1859); and Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of William IV. and Victoria (London, 1861).
Richard Grenville, 3rd duke of Buckingham and Chandos (1823–1889), the only son of the 2nd duke, was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, and, as marquess of Chandos, represented the borough of Buckingham in parliament from 1846 to 1857. He was chairman of the London & North-Western railway from 1853 to 1861. After succeeding to the dukedom he became lord president of the council, and subsequently secretary for the colonies in the Conservative government of 1866–1868. From 1875 to 1880 he was governor of Madras, and in 1886 was chosen chairman of committees in the House of Lords. He was twice married and left three daughters. As he left no son the dukedom became extinct on his death; but the Scottish barony of Kinloss (to which he established his title in 1868) passed to his eldest daughter, Mary, the wife of Captain L. F. H. C. Morgan; the earldom of Temple to his nephew, William Stephen Gore-Langton; and the viscounty of Cobham to his kinsman, Charles George, 5th Baron Lyttelton. His widow married the 1st Earl Egerton of Tatton in 1894.
BUCKINGHAM, GEORGE VILLIERS, 1st Duke of[1] (1592–1628), English statesman, born in August 1592,[2] was a younger son of Sir George Villiers of Brooksby. His mother, Mary, daughter of Anthony Beaumont of Glenfield, Leicestershire, who was left a widow early, educated him for a courtier’s life, sending him to France with Sir John Eliot; and the lad, being “by nature contemplative,” took kindly to the training. He could dance well, fence well, and talk a little French, when in August 1614 he was brought before the king’s notice, in the hope that he would take a fancy to him.
The moment was favourable. Since Salisbury’s death James had taken the business of government upon himself. But he wanted some one who would chat with him, and amuse him, and would also fill the office of private secretary, and save him from the trouble of saying no to importunate suitors. It would be an additional satisfaction if he could train the youth whom he might select in those arts of statesmanship of which he believed himself to be a perfect master. His first choice had not proved a happy one. Robert Carr, who had lately become earl of Somerset, had had his head turned by his elevation. He had grown peevish toward his master, and had placed himself at the head of the party which was working for a close alliance with Spain.
The appearance of Villiers, beaming with animal spirits and good humour, was therefore welcomed by all who had an interest in opposing the designs of Spain, and he was appointed cupbearer the same year. For some little time still Somerset’s pre-eminence was maintained. But on the 23rd of April 1615, Villiers, in spite of Somerset, was promoted to be gentleman of the bedchamber, and was knighted on the 24th; the charge of murdering Overbury, brought against Somerset in September, completed his downfall, and Villiers at once stepped into the place which he had vacated. On the 3rd of January 1616 he became master of the horse, on the 24th of April he received the order of the Garter, and on the 27th of August 1616 was created Viscount Villiers and Baron Waddon, receiving a grant of land valued at £80,000, while on the 5th of January 1617 he was made earl, and on the 1st of January 1618 marquess of Buckingham. With the exception of the earl of Pembroke he was the richest nobleman in England.
Those who expected him to give his support to the anti-Spanish party were at first doomed to disappointment. As yet he was no politician, and he contented himself with carrying out his master’s orders, whatever they were. In his personal relations he was kindly and jovial towards all who did not thwart his wishes. But James had taught him to consider that the patronage of England was in his hands, and he took good care that no man should receive promotion of any kind who did not in one way or another pay court to him. As far as can be ascertained, he cared less for money than for the gratification of his vanity. But he had not merely himself to consider. His numerous kinsfolk were to be enriched by marriage, if in no other way, and Bacon, the great philosopher and statesman, was all but thrust from office because he had opposed a marriage suggested for one of Buckingham’s brothers, while Cranfield, the first financier of the day, was kept from the treasury till he would forsake the woman whom he loved, to marry a penniless cousin of the favourite. On the 19th of January 1619 James made him lord high admiral of England, hoping that the ardent, energetic youth would impart something of his own fire to those who were entrusted with the oversight of that fleet which had been almost ruined by the peculation and carelessness of the officials. Something of this, no doubt, was realized under Buckingham’s eye. But he himself never pretended to the virtues of an administrator, and he was too ready to fill up appointments with men who flattered him, and too reluctant to dismiss them, if they served their country ill, to effect any permanent change for the better.
It was about this time that he first took an independent part in politics. All England was talking of the revolution in Bohemia in the year before, and men’s sympathy with the continental Protestants was increased when it was known that James’s son-in-law had accepted the crown of Bohemia, and that in the summer of 1620 a Spanish force was preparing to invade the Palatinate. Buckingham at first had thrown himself into the popular movement. Before the summer of 1620 was at end, incensed by injuries inflicted on English sailors by the Dutch in the East Indies, he had swung round, and was in close agreement with Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador. He had now married Lady Katherine Manners, the daughter of the earl of Rutland, who was at heart a Roman Catholic, though she outwardly conformed to the English Church, and this alliance may have had something to do with the change.
Buckingham’s mistakes were owing mainly to his levity. If he passed briskly from one camp to the other, an impartial
- ↑ i.e. in the Villiers line; see above.
- ↑ The Life, by Sir Henry Wotton, gives August 28th as the date of his birth, but, when relating his death on August 23rd, adds, “thus died the great peer in the 36th year of his age compleat and three days over.” August 28th was therefore probably a misprint for August 20th.
