(1773 - 1846), statesman, 2nd s. of 1st M. of Stafford; Ch.Ch. Oxf. 1789; in Holland, Germany and Russia 1792; MP 1795 - 1815; amb. St Petersburg 1798, 1804 - 5, 1807, The Hague 1823, Paris 1824 - 8, 1830 - 5 and 1835 - 41; m. 1809 Ldy. Harriet Cavendish, dau. of 5th D. of Devonshire; cr. Vct Granville 1815, E. Granville 1833.
1794 [dep. Portsmouth 7 Nov. 1793] Leghorn (23 Jan. 1794), Pisa, Florence (29 Jan. - Feb.), Naples (Feb. - Mar.), Rome (Apr.), Venice ( - by 22 Apr.) [England by May]
Having obtained long leave from his company in the Staffordshire Militia, Lord Granville sailed from Portsmouth attended by Frederick Saxe. At Majorca he met Lord Holland with whom he continued his journey. They arrived at Leghorn on 23 January 1794, and stayed briefly in Pisa and Florence.1 On 30 January 1794 Lord Granville refers to his having been away 'near 4 months'. In Florence he met Lady Webster, who thought him 'remarkably handsome and winning', though addicted to gambling, and in Naples he was much attracted by Lady Bessborough (to the annoyance of Charles Beauclerk who also pursued her).2 In 1800 she became the mother of his child.
Lord Granville described his routine in Naples as spending alternate days seeing the different curiosities, and the intermediate days in rising between nine and ten, staying at home until two, 'an hour and a half of which time is occupied by an Italian Master, who is a clever man, and who accompanied Boringdon and Morpeth from Rome. Then I walk or ride, dine at 5, go to the Spectacle, and then play a rubber of whist, and sup at Ld. Bessborough's, or Ld. Grandison's, Ld. Palmerston's'. Morpeth (later 6th Earl of Carlisle) and Lord Boringdon became his particular friends. From Naples on 22 February he mentioned a forwarding address as Jenkins at Rome, 'tho' if you imagine it cannot arrive before the 6th of April you had better let it meet me at Venice'. He and Boringdon had left Venice by 22 April.3 Lord Granville was back in England by May, having been strongly urged to return, as an officer in the Militia, by his father.
1. See Granville Letters, 1:80 - 8. 2. Holland Jnl., 1:116. 3. ASV is 770.