(1701 - 50), o. s. of 1st D. of Richmond; m. 1719 Ldy. Sarah Cadogan, dau. of 1st E. Cadogan; sty. E. of March - 1723 when suc. fa. as 2nd D.; KB 1725; KG 1726; MP 1722 - 3; army officer, capt. 1722, maj.-gen. 1742, gen. 1745; FRS 1724; FSA 1736; amb. to France 1748 - 9.
1721 Padua (10 Jan. 1721), Rome (by 6 Apr.), Naples, Florence, Parma (by 23 Dec.), Milan [The Hague by May 1722]
At the age of eighteen Lord March had married the thirteen-year-old daughter of the 1st Earl of Cadogan, in order to cancel a gambling debt between their parents. He immediately left on his grand tour and did not see his bride again until 1722. He was accompanied by Thomas Hill, his tutor since 1711. They apparently did not reach Italy until 1721, when they were in Padua on 10 January,1 and went on to Venice for the Carnival.2 They were in Rome on 6 April,3 'retired some leagues' in order to avoid 'any insults on account of their religion'.4 On 27 May Rawlinson saw 'a picture of the Marquiss of March ... at the house of Hieronymo Peschi [Girolamo Pesci]' along side 'a draught of the Chevalier's Spouse with her Son'.3 They went on to Naples and came back through Florence, where, after their departure, Thomas Dereham forwarded a packet received from Naples. March was considering revisiting Venice and was said to be leaving Italy at the end of October,5 but he was writing to his mother from Parma on 23 December, and was later in Milan. He was finally reunited with his wife at The Hague by the end of May (and he found her far more attractive than before).6
Twelve years after his visit he wrote some introductions to Roman society for his friend the antiquarian Martin Folkes. Cardinal Albani, he wrote, 'is a very odd Cur, Ignorant enough, & proud as Hell, butt has the finest library, one of them, in Europe, & without exception the very best collection of bustos in the world. You must flatter him on his learning, & bon gusto. The Princess Pamphili is the ugliest woman in the world. Damn'd proud also, and stark staring mad, butt a Devilish deal of Witt'.7
1. Brown 1676 - 7. 2. Daily Post, 30 Jan. 1721. See Gibson 1989, 84 - 5, and March, A Duke and his Friends, 1:34, 40 - 1, 53, 56, 59. 3. Rawlinson jnl.mss. 4. Daily Journal, 21 Apr. 1721. 5. Ibid., 31 Oct. 1721. 6. Ibid., 30 May. 7. March (at n1), 1:255 (to Folkes, 12 Aug. 1733).