| George Augustus Francis Rawdon-Hastings
2nd Marquess of Hastings, (1808-1844) Born 4 February 1808 St.James's Place Died 13 January 1844 Southampton Buried 22 January 1844 Castle Donington Married 1 August 1831 Wolston-cum-Brandon Barbara Yelverton, 20th Baroness Grey de Ruthyn, daughter of Henry Edward Yelverton, 19th Lord Grey de Ruthyn and Anna Maria Kelham Born 29 May 1810 Brandon House Died 19 November 1858 Rome Buried Rome |
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On 4 February 1808 he was born in St.James's Place and baptised on 7 April at St.George's, Hanover Square, with the Prince of Wales, the future King George IV, as one of the sponsors. He was styled Earl of Rawdon from 1817 till 1826 when he became 2nd Marquess of Hastings. In 1830 and 1831 he was Lord of the Bedchamber. On 1 August 1831 he married Barbara, suo jure Baroness Grey, and so was on 8 September 1831 Bearer of the Golden Spurs at the Coronation of William IV, which was in right of his wife, such office having been hereditary in the family of Grey. On 8 January 1840 his mother died, making him Earl of Loudoun, and since that date he possessed not only a peerage in England, Scotland and Ireland but also one in Great Britain and another in the United Kingdom. He was deeply incensed at the inexcusable insult put upon his sister, Lady Flora Hastings, who, on 5 July 1839, died at Buckingham Palace of an enlarged liver, having been subjected to the cruel slander of being pregnant. To this insult Charles Greville aptly refers as a "disgraceful and mischievous scandal which cannot fail to lower the character of the Court in the eyes of the world". A Whig till after the Reform Bill, and then as a Conservative, he supported the vote of want of confidence in Melbourne's Government in 1841. Aged nearly thirty-six, he died at Southampton on 13 January 1844 and was buried on 22 January at Castle Donington. Source: Leo van de Pas |