(1773 - 1857), statesman, o. s. of William Amherst; Ch.Ch. Oxf. 1789; suc. uncle 1797 as 2nd B. Amherst; m. 1 1800 Hon. Sarah Archer, dau. of 2nd B. Archer, wid. of 5th E. of Plymouth, 2 1839 Ldy. Mary Sackville, wid. of 6th E. of Plymouth; env. Naples 1809 - 11 and China 1816; gov.-gen. Bengal 1822 - 8; cr. E. Amherst 1826.
1794 - 6 Verona (11 Sep. 1794), Padua (15 Sep.), Venice (19 - 27 Sep.), Florence (Oct.), Rome (Oct. 1794 - May 1795), Lucca (Jun. - Jul.), Bologna, Florence, Rome (Aug. 1795 - Feb. 1796)
Amherst 'a pretty, well-behaved lad', was in Berne with George Cornewall in the summer of 1793, when both were intending to 'settle quietly at Morges, near Lausanne' to learn French and Italian, before spending the following winter in Italy.1 A year later they went from Augsburg, through Verona and Padua to reach Venice in September (their names variously given, e.g. as 'Aucheat' and 'Cornevach').2 In October they were in Florence being observed by Lady Webster who found Amherst 'a quiet, sedate young man, full of proprieties and all sorts of good things', in love with both her and Mrs W[yndham], and most with the one he saw last, while Cornewall, by contrast, was 'good-humoured and weak'.3 Soon after 20 October Amherst was presented to the Pope, with Lord Carmarthen and the Duke of Leeds.4 In April and May 1795 the two young men were in Rome, Amherst visiting the Spada Palace with Lady Plymouth and Lady Webster,5 who next saw them in Lucca in the summer.6 In 1795 Amherst was paying considerable attention to Lady Plymouth (whom he subsequently married), Lady Knight commenting that in Bologna he did 'all the leading honours to the lady, but I hear, fears his honoured uncle should know it'.7 He was in Rome in August 1795.8 By the end of the year Cornewall had stayed three weeks as an uninvited guest of the Drakes near Genoa, in order to be near 'Moranda (Mr Car's lady)' [unidentified], with whom he was in love, though she thought him 'very disagreeable'; he was intending to meet Amherst at Milan in March and travel home with him - but in February 1796 Amherst 'was still at Anchor at Plymouth' and, added Lady Berwick, 'if Ld P's eyes begin to open perhaps he may be surprised to see her Ladyship's shape so enlarged'.9 Lady Webster saw Lady Plymouth and Amherst in Rome and Tivoli in February 1796.(10) See Other, 5th Earl of Plymouth.
1. Carter Letters, 6. 2. ASV IS 771. 3. Holland Jnl., 1:129. 4. Hippisley corr.MSS. 5. Holland Jnl., 1:132. 6. Ibid., 135. 7. Knight Letters, 210 - 11 (26 Dec. 1795). 8. Attingham MSS (Ldy. Plymouth, 30 Aug. 1795). 9. Ibid. (23 Feb. 1796). 10. Holland Jnl., 1:141.