FITZROY, Henry, Earl of Euston (1790-1863).

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1818 - 1820
1826 - 1831
8 Aug. 1834 - 5 May 1842

Family and Education

b. 10 Feb. 1790, 1st s. of George Henry Fitzroy*, 4th Duke of Grafton, and bro. of Lord Charles Fitzroy II*. educ. Harrow 1802; Trinity Coll. Camb. 1808. m. 20 June 1812, at Lisbon, Mary Caroline, da. of Hon. (Sir) George Cranfield Berkeley* of Wood End, Suss., 3s. 2da. suc. fa. as 5th Duke of Grafton 28 Sept. 1844.

Offices Held

Cornet 7 Drag. 1809, lt. 1810-12; cornet, Northants yeoman cav. 1813; col. E. Suff. militia 1823, W. Suff. militia 1830.

Biography

Euston came in on the family interest for Bury on the retirement of his uncle Charles in 1818. At the previous election there had been an unsubstantiated rumour of his offering for Northamptonshire. Following his father’s political line, he signed the requisition to Tierney to lead the Whig opposition in the House. He joined Brooks’s Club on 29 Jan. 1819. He is not known to have spoken in his first Parliament, in which he voted steadily with opposition on all major issues, though he was a defaulter on 29 Mar. 1819. He supported criminal law reform, 2 Mar. 1819, and burgh reform, 1 Apr. and 6 May. On 23 June he voted for inquiry into the abuse of charitable foundations. He attended at least until 13 Dec. 1819 in opposition to the government’s repressive measures. He missed the next Parliament and sat subsequently only on the family interest. He was untypical of his family and station in his lack of interest in field sports, his teetotalism and his devout Anglicanism. He died 26 Mar. 1863.

Spencer mss, Harrison to Spencer, 1 Oct. 1812; Gent. Mag. (1863), i. 657; B. Falk, The Royal Fitzroys, 236.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: Winifred Stokes

Notes