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William Pleydell-Bouverie, 5th Earl of Radnor

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The Right Honourable
The Earl of Radnor
PC
"South Wilts". Caricature by Ape published in Vanity Fair in 1880.
Treasurer of the Household
In office
27 June 1885 – 28 January 1886
MonarchVictoria
Prime MinisterThe Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded byThe Earl of Breadalbane
Succeeded byThe Earl of Elgin
In office
5 August 1886 – 20 November 1891
MonarchVictoria
Prime MinisterThe Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded byThe Earl of Elgin
Succeeded byLord Walter Gordon-Lennox
Personal details
Born19 June 1841
Died3 June 1900(1900-06-03) (aged 58)
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)Helen Chaplin
(d. 1929)
Children4
Parent(s)Jacob Pleydell-Bouverie, 4th Earl of Radnor
Lady Mary Grimston

William Pleydell-Bouverie, 5th Earl of Radnor PC (19 June 1841 – 3 June 1900), styled Viscount Folkestone from 1869 to 1889, was a British Conservative politician. He served as Treasurer of the Household under Lord Salisbury between 1885 and 1886 and again between 1886 and 1891.

Background

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Pleydell-Bouverie was the eldest son of Jacob Pleydell-Bouverie, 4th Earl of Radnor, by his wife Lady Mary Augusta Frederica Grimston, daughter of James Grimston, 1st Earl of Verulam. He became known by the courtesy title Viscount Folkestone when his father succeeded in the earldom of Radnor in 1869.[1]

Political career

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Lord Folkestone was returned to parliament for South Wiltshire in 1874.[2] When the Conservatives came to power in 1885 under Lord Salisbury, Folkestone was sworn of the Privy Council[3] and appointed Treasurer of the Household.[4] The South Wiltshire constituency was abolished in 1885[2] and at the general election of that year, Folkestone was instead returned for Enfield.[5] He remained as Treasurer of the Household until the Liberals under Gladstone came to office in February 1886.[6] Salisbury returned as prime minister already in August 1885, and Folkestone once again became Treasurer of the Household.[7] In 1889 he succeeded his father in the earldom and entered the House of Lords.[1] He continued as Treasurer of the Household until 1891.[8]

Radnor became a director of the French Hospital in 1889 and served as governor from 1890 to 1900. Successive Earls of Radnor were governors of the hospital from the eighteenth century to 2015.[9]

Family

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Portrait of his daughter, Wilma, Countess of Lathom, by John Singer Sargent, 1904

Lord Radnor married Helen Matilda Chaplin, daughter of Reverend Henry Chaplin and sister of Lord Chaplin, on 19 June 1866. They had four children:

Lord Radnor died in June 1900, aged 58, and was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest son, Jacob.

Helen, Lady Radnor

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The Countess of Radnor was born in March 1846 and died in September 1929.[1] She was a musician who in 1881 founded her own string orchestra for women players, initially Lady Folkestone's Band, then Lady Radnor's Band.[12] Sir Hubert Parry wrote his famous Lady Radnor's Suite for her in 1894. She conducted its first performance that year.[13]

Coat of arms

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Coat of arms of William Pleydell-Bouverie, 5th Earl of Radnor
Coronet
A coronet of an Earl
Crest
A demi-eagle with two heads displayed sable, ducally gorged or, and charged on the breast with a cross crosslet argent.
Escutcheon
Quarterly: 1st and 4th, per fesse or and argent, an eagle displayed, with two heads sable, on the breast an escutcheon gules, charged with a bend vair (Bouverie); 2nd and 3rd, argent a bend gules, guttée d’eau between two ravens sable, a chief checky, or and sable (Pleydell).
Supporters
Two eagles reguardant, wings elevated sable, ducally gorged or, each charged on the breast with a cross crosslet argent.
Motto
Patria cara carior libertas. (My country is dear, liberty is dearer.)[14][15]

References

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  1. ^ a b c thepeerage.com William Pleydell-Bouverie, 5th Earl of Radnor
  2. ^ a b Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 4)
  3. ^ "No. 25485". The London Gazette. 30 June 1885. p. 2987.
  4. ^ "No. 25485". The London Gazette. 30 June 1885. p. 3000.
  5. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 2)
  6. ^ "No. 25560". The London Gazette. 19 February 1886. p. 797.
  7. ^ "No. 25616". The London Gazette. 13 August 1886. p. 3956.
  8. ^ "No. 26226". The London Gazette. 24 November 1891. p. 6229.
  9. ^ Tessa Murdoch and Randolph Vigne with foreword by Jacob Pleydell-Bouverie, 8th Earl of Radnor, The French Hospital in England: Its Huguenot History and Collections Cambridge: John Adamson ISBN 978-0-9524322-7-2 OCLC 318092110, p. 100.
  10. ^ Philip Christopher Rudd, "Countess, Conductor, Pioneer: Lady Radnor and the Phenomenon of the Victorian Ladies' Orchestra," M.A. thesis, University of Iowa, 2017, pp. 52, 54–55, https://doi.org/10.17077/etd.mgcx8ncr.
  11. ^ Rudd, "Countess, Conductor, Pioneer," p. 53.
  12. ^ Helen Pleydell-Bouverie, Countess of Radnor. From a Great-Grandmother’s Armchair (1927)
  13. ^ 'Helen Lady Radnor', obituary, The Times, 12 September 1929, p. 14
  14. ^ Slater, Stephen. "The arms of the earls of Radnor" (PDF). The Somerset Dragon, the journal of the Somerset heraldry society (35): 10-14.
  15. ^ Debrett's peerage & baronetage 2003. London: Macmillan. 2003. p. 1313.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for South Wiltshire
1874–1885
With: Lord Henry Thynne 		constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament for Enfield
1885–1889 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Treasurer of the Household
1885–1886 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Treasurer of the Household
1886–1891 		Succeeded by
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by Earl of Radnor
1889–1900 		Succeeded by
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