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Up for sale a RARE! "1st Marquess of Westminster" Robert Grosvenor Signed Free Frank Dated 1838.
ES-8191E
Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster, KG (22 March
1767 – 17 February 1845) was the son of the 1st Earl
Grosvenor, whom he succeeded in 1802 as 2nd Earl Grosvenor. He
was created Marquess of Westminster in 1831. He was an English Member of
Parliament (MP) and an ancestor of the modern-day Dukes of Westminster.
Grosvenor continued to develop the family's London estates, he rebuilt their
country house, Eaton Hall in
Cheshire where he also restored the gardens, and built a new London home, Grosvenor House. He maintained and extended the family
interests in the acquisition of works of art, and in horse racing and breeding
racehorses. Robert Grosvenor was born on 22 March 1767 in the parish of St George Hanover Square,
London. He was the third son and the only surviving child of Richard
Grosvenor, 1st Earl Grosvenor and Henrietta, Lady Grosvenor,
and was initially known as Viscount Belgrave. He was educated at Westminster School, Harrow School, and Trinity College, Cambridge,
where he graduated MA in
1786. In addition to his formal education, William Gifford acted as his private tutor. Gifford accompanied Grosvenor when the latter
undertook his Grand Tour between 1786 and 1788. Gifford described him as a "most
amiable" and "accomplished" pupil. On
28 April 1794 Grosvenor married Eleanor, the only child of Sir Thomas
Egerton (later the 1st Earl Wilton).
They had four children; in 1795 Richard, Lord Belgrave, who succeeded his
father; in 1799 Thomas, who became the 2nd Earl of Wilton on
the death of his grandfather; in 1801 Robert, later the 1st Baron Ebury;
and finally a daughter, Amelia, who died in her early teenage years. Grosvenor
was elected as MP for East Looe in
1788 and served this constituency until 1790; during this time he was appointed
a Lord of the
Admiralty. His first speech in the House of Commons of Great
Britain contained a quotation from the ancient Greek
orator Demosthenes, which led to the satirist Peter Pindar calling him "the lord of Greek". In 1790 he was elected as MP for Chester and
continued to serve in this seat until 1802. Between 1793 and 1801 he was a
commissioner of the Board of Control. He raised a regiment of volunteers from
the city of Westminster to
fight against France and in 1798 was appointed its major-commandant. When his
father died on 5 August 1802 he became the 2nd Earl Grosvenor. Grosvenor
was Mayor of Chester in 1807–08, and was
responsible for the building of Thomas Harrison's Northgate in the city
in 1810. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire from
1798 to 1845. When
Grosvenor entered parliament, he continued the family tradition of Pitt the Younger.
However, after Pitt's death in 1806, he changed his allegiance and became
a Whig. This led to
his support for the victims of the Peterloo massacre, for Catholic Emancipation, for
the abolition of the Corn Laws, and his voting for the Reform Bill. He was a man of principle; he championed Queen Caroline and is
reputed to have thrown either a Bible or a Prayer Book at the
head of King George IV. And
when the Duke of
Wellington was presented with the freedom of the city
of Chester, Grosvenor refused to allow the town hall to be used for the event. The relations between
Grosvenor and the king later improved, and in the coronation honours of 1831 he was created Marquess of
Westminster. He participated in the coronation of
Queen Victoria in 1837. On 11 March 1841 he was received as a Knight of the Garter.