George Coventry, 7th Earl of Coventry

George William Coventry, 7th Earl of Coventry (25 April 1758 – 26 March 1831), styled Viscount Deerhurst until 1809, was a British peer and Member of Parliament.

Memorials to Viscount Deerhurst, eldest son of the 9th Earl of Coventry, and the 7th Earl of Coventry (1758–1831) in the church at Croome Court

Life

On 7 May 1776, Coventry was commissioned an ensign in the 64th Regiment of Foot. On 21 January 1777, he became a lieutenant in the 17th Regiment of Light Dragoons.

In 1776 he had eloped to Gretna Green with Lady Catherine Henley, daughter of the Earl of Northington, leading to a long-standing estrangement from his father, the 6th Earl. Forbidden to return home, he spent much time with his friend Sir Richard Worsley, 7th Baronet at Appuldurcombe House, Isle of Wight.

He had an affair with Lady Worsley and was later involved in her scandalous elopement with George Bisset in 1781, and the subsequent trial.[1]

Deerhurst was later appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Worcestershire Militia on 10 May 1806.[2]

He succeeded his father George Coventry, 6th Earl of Coventry as Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire in 1808 and as Earl of Coventry in 1809. [2]

Family

In 1783, Coventry married Peggy Pitches, daughter of the brandy merchant Sir Abraham Pitches. They had five sons including the future 8th Earl, and six daughters, one son and one daughter dying young.[3]

Upon his death in 1831, he was succeeded by his son George Coventry, 8th Earl of Coventry.

References

1. Rubenhold, Hallie (2008). Lady Worsley's Whim. London: Vintage Books. pp. 77–78, 123–129.
2. Doyle, James William Edmund (1886). The Official Baronage of England, v. 2. London: Longmans, Green. p. 472.
3. John Debrett (1840). Debrett's Peerage of England, Scotland, and Ireland. revised, corrected and continued by G. W. Collen. p. 194.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Coventry