John Charles George Savile, 4th Earl of Mexborough (4 June 1810 – 17 August 1899), styled Viscount Pollington between 1830 and 1860, was a British peer and Tory politician. He impressed his friends enough to be twice fictionalised, and at his death he was the last surviving person to have been elected a Member of the House of Commons before the passing of the Reform Act in 1832.
He was the son and heir of John Savile, 3rd Earl of Mexborough by his wife Lady Anne Yorke (1783 - 1870), [1] a daughter of Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke by his wife Elizabeth Lindsay, a daughter of James Lindsay, 5th Earl of Balcarres. [1]
At Eton College between 1821 and 1826, he was renowned for his abilities in the classics, and also enjoyed boxing; Savile was said to have entertained contemporaries at one boxing match by "strutting around the ring, spouting Homer" between rounds. [2] From there he went to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1827–8. [3]
Pollington was returned to Parliament for the rotten borough of Gatton in 1831, a borough under the control of his cousin, Frederick Monson, 5th Baron Monson. At the time of his election he was under-age but Parliament did not meet until after his 21st birthday. Pollington voted consistently against the Reform Bill and also voted to end the grant to the Roman Catholic Maynooth College. Gatton was among the boroughs disfranchised by the Reform Act, [4] and Pollington did not attempt to find an alternative constituency at the 1832 general election.[ citation needed ]
After leaving Parliament, Pollington went on an extensive foreign tour of Russia, Persia and India. In 1834 he joined his Eton contemporary Alexander William Kinglake on an expedition through the Ottoman Empire. Kinglake's novel "Eothen" includes a character called Methley who is based on Pollington: Methley is a knowledgeable classical scholar with "the practical sagacity of a Yorkshireman". [5]
Pollington returned to Britain in 1835, in time for his election as Member of Parliament for Pontefract as a supporter of Sir Robert Peel at the general election.[ citation needed ]
Pollington sat out the Parliament of 1837–1841, and took the opportunity to travel through eastern Anatolia in June 1838. His journal from this trip was published as "Notes on a Journey from Erẓ-Rúm ... to Aleppo" in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1841. [6] On his return to Britain, Pollington again represented Pontefract between 1841 and 1847. [7]
He was nominated as a candidate in a byelection in the borough in 1851, in his absence and without his knowledge. Pollington became a close friend of Benjamin Disraeli, and shortly after he married the "very wild and gay" Lady Rachel Walpole, daughter of Horatio Walpole, 3rd Earl of Orford in 1842, Disraeli featured the couple as 'Lord and Lady Gaverstock' in his novel Coningsby . [5] Tragically Pollington's first wife died in June 1854.
In 1860 he succeeded his father in the earldom. However, as this was an Irish peerage it did not entitle him to a seat in the House of Lords.
He married twice:
He died in Brighton in August 1899, aged 89, having survived his wife by only a few months. At the time of his death he was the last survivor from the pre-1832 Reform Act House of Commons. [9] He was succeeded in the earldom by his son from his first marriage, John Horace Savile, 5th Earl of Mexborough (1843–1916). [1]
Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke, KG, PC, FRS, known as Philip Yorke until 1790, was a British politician.
Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 2nd Earl of Minto,, styled as Viscount Melgund between 1813 and 1814, was a British diplomat and Whig politician.
William Lowther, 2nd Earl of Lonsdale, PC, FRS, styled Viscount Lowther between 1807 and 1844, was a British Tory politician.
Vice-Admiral Frederick Spencer, 4th Earl Spencer, KG, CB, PC, styled The Honourable Frederick Spencer until 1845, was a British naval commander, courtier, and Whig politician. He initially served in the Royal Navy and fought in the Napoleonic Wars and the Greek War of Independence, eventually rising to the rank of Vice-Admiral. He succeeded his elder brother as Earl Spencer in 1845 and held political office as Lord Chamberlain of the Household between 1846 and 1848 and as Lord Steward of the Household between 1854 and 1857. In 1849 he was made a Knight of the Garter.
Earl of Mexborough, of Lifford in the County of Donegal, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created on 11 February 1766 for John Savile, 1st Baron Pollington, Member of Parliament for Hedon and New Shoreham. He had already been created Baron Pollington, of Longford in the County of Longford, on 8 November 1753, and was made Viscount Pollington, of Ferns in the County of Wexford, at the same time as he was given the earldom. These titles are also in the Peerage of Ireland. He was succeeded by his eldest son, the second Earl. He represented Lincoln in the House of Commons. His son, the third Earl, was Member of Parliament for Pontefract for many years. On his death the titles passed to his son, the fourth Earl. He represented Gatton and Pontefract in Parliament as a Conservative. His son, the fifth Earl, was High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1877. He was succeeded by his half-brother, the sixth Earl. As of 2018 the titles are held by the latter's grandson, the eighth Earl, who succeeded his father in 1980.
Charles Cecil Cope Jenkinson, 3rd Earl of Liverpool, styled The Honourable Charles Jenkinson between 1786 and 1828, was a British politician.
George James Welbore Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover PC FRS FSA was a British politician and man of letters. He was briefly First Commissioner of Woods and Forests under Lord Grey between 1830 and 1831.
Archibald Acheson, 3rd Earl of Gosford KP, styled Viscount Acheson between 1807 and 1849, was a British peer and Member of Parliament.
John Savile, 1st Earl of Mexborough, known as The Lord Pollington between 1753 and 1766, was a British peer and Member of Parliament.
George Stevens Byng, 2nd Earl of Strafford, PC, styled Viscount Enfield between 1847 and 1860, of Wrotham Park in Middlesex and of 5 St James's Square, London, was a British peer and Whig politician.
Thomas William Anson, 1st Earl of Lichfield PC, previously known as The Viscount Anson from 1818 to 1831, was a British Whig politician from the Anson family. He served under Lord Grey and Lord Melbourne as Master of the Buckhounds between 1830 and 1834 and under Melbourne Postmaster General between 1835 and 1841. His gambling and lavish entertaining got him heavily into debt and he was forced to sell off the entire contents of his Shugborough Hall estate.
Henry John Chetwynd-Talbot, 18th Earl of Shrewsbury, 18th Earl of Waterford, 3rd Earl Talbot, CB, PC, styled Viscount Ingestre between 1826 and 1849 and known as The Earl Talbot between 1849 and 1858, was a British naval commander and Conservative politician.
Robert Jocelyn, 3rd Earl of Roden,, styled Viscount Jocelyn between 1797 and 1820, was an Irish Tory politician and supporter of Protestant causes.
John Savile, 3rd Earl of Mexborough, styled Viscount Pollington until 1830, was a British peer and Tory politician.
John Savile, 2nd Earl of Mexborough, styled Viscount Pollington between 1766 and 1778, was a British peer and politician.
Horatio Walpole, 3rd Earl of Orford,, styled Lord Walpole between 1809 and 1822, was a British peer and politician.
Princess Anne of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg was an English socialite and aviation patron and enthusiast. Anne was the first woman both to attempt and to die in a transatlantic aircraft flight, as well as the second to die in a transoceanic flight. Through her marriage to Prince Ludwig of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg, Anne was a Princess of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg and a member of the Princely House of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg.
Savile Finch was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1757 to 1780.
Arthur Savile was an English clergyman and a cricketer who played first-class cricket for Cambridge University and other amateur teams between 1839 and 1841. He was born at Methley in Yorkshire and died at Fowlmere in Cambridgeshire.
Sarah Greville, Countess of Warwick, formerly Lady Monson, was the wife of Henry Greville, 3rd Earl of Warwick.