The Minor Family of Somerset

Name Suffix:<NSFX> 2nd Earl of Harrington
Having joined the army's Foot Guardsin 1741, he was Colonel o
f the 2nd Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards from 1745until 1779
. On 11 May 1745 he distinguished himself at the battle of Fonte
noy. In 1755 he became a Major-General, a Lieutenant-General i
n 1758, and finally a
General in 1770.
From 1742 he was known as Viscount Petersham until 1765 when h
e succeeded his father and became 2nd Earl of Harrington. Meanwh
ile, from 1741 until 1747 he was a Whig M.P. for Aylesbury and f
rom 1747 until 1756 for Bury St. Edmunds.
In 1746 he married Lady Caroline Fitzroy, daughter of the 2nd Du
ke of Grafton, and they became the parents of seven children. Ac
cording to Sir Horace Walpole "she had a very bad character", wh
ereasWilliam Stanhope was nicknamed "Peter Shambler" from his p
eculiar gait; while
in "Modern Characters by Shakespear" (1778) he is described as "
the genius of famine; and lecherous as a monkey". He seems to ha
ve been a person of quite exceptional immorality as in the "Roya
l Register" for 1778 he is described as "the nobleman who sacrif
ices all appearance of
decency and good morals, neglects every domestic duty, every pub
lic concern, for the loWest amusements of the loWest brothels."
He died in 1779 aged fifty-nine while his wife died suddenly o
f convulsions in 1784 aged sixty-two.
Source: Leo van de Pas