Charles Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer

The Right Honourable The Earl Spencer KG GCVO VD PC
Lord Chamberlain of the Household
In office 18 December 1905 – 14 February 1912
Monarch	Edward VII George V
Prime Minister	Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman H. H. Asquith
Preceded by	The Earl of Clarendon
Succeeded by	The Lord Sandhurst
Personal details
Born	30 October 1857 St James's, Westminster, London
Died	26 September 1922 (aged 64) St James Place, Westminster, London
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Hon. Margaret Baring (1868–1906)
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

Charles Robert Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer KG GCVO VD PC (30 October 1857 – 26 September 1922), styled The Honourable Charles Spencer until 1905 and known as The Viscount Althorp between 1905 and 1910, was a British courtier and Liberal politician from the Spencer family. An MP from 1880 to 1895 and again from 1900 to 1905, he served as Vice-Chamberlain of the Household from 1892 to 1895. Raised to peerage as Viscount Althorp in 1905, he was Lord Chamberlain from 1905 to 1912 in the Liberal administrations headed by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and H. H. Asquith. In 1910, he succeeded his half-brother in the earldom of Spencer. He was married to Margaret Baring, a member of the Baring family. They were the great-grandparents of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Background and education

Spencer was born in St. James's, Westminster,^[1] the son of Frederick Spencer, 4th Earl Spencer, by his second wife Adelaide Seymour, daughter of Horace Beauchamp Seymour and granddaughter of Lord Hugh Seymour. John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer, was his elder half-brother.^[2] He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge.^[3]

Political career

Spencer represented Northamptonshire North in parliament from 1880 to 1885 and Northamptonshire Mid from 1885 to 1895 and again from 1900 to 1905, from his home at Dallington Hall. In 1898 he contested Hertford.^[4] He was a Groom in Waiting to Queen Victoria between February and June 1886. In 1892 he was sworn of the Privy Council^[5] and appointed Vice-Chamberlain of the Household under William Ewart Gladstone,^[6] a post he held until 1895, the last year under the premiership of Lord Rosebery.^[7] Between 1900 and 1905 he was a Liberal whip.^[8]

On 19 December 1905, he was created Viscount Althorp, of Great Brington in the County of Northampton,^[9] so as to allow him to become Lord Chamberlain in Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's new Liberal administration (his older brother was still Earl Spencer at that time).^[10] On 13 August 1910 he inherited the earldom on the death of his childless elder brother, John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer. He remained Lord Chamberlain until 1912.^[11] From 1908 to 1922 he was Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire.^[12] He was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order^[2] in 1911 and a Knight of the Garter in 1913.^[13] He was also awarded the Volunteer Reserve Decoration.

Lord Spencer held a large number of foreign decorations: the Grand Crosses of Order of the Dannebrog of Denmark, Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav, Order of the Polar Star of Sweden, Order of the Rising Sun of Japan, the White Eagle of Serbia, Order of the Red Eagle of Prussia and Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Carlos III. He was also an honorary major in^[8] and later honorary colonel of the 4th Volunteer Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment.^[12]

Family

Lord Spencer married the Hon. Margaret Baring (14 December 1868 – 4 July 1906), daughter of Edward Baring, 1st Baron Revelstoke, at St James's Church, Piccadilly, on 23 July 1887. They had six children:

• Lady Adelaide Margaret Delia Spencer (1889–1981), married Sir Sidney Peel, 1st Baronet and had issue.
• Albert Edward John Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer (1892–1975).
• Lieutenant commander Hon. Cecil Edward Robert Spencer RN DSC Croix de guerre (1894–1928), died unmarried in a riding accident.
• Lady Lavinia Emily Spencer^[14] (1899–1955), married the 4th Baron Annaly and had issue. Lady Annaly was an extra Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother when she was Duchess of York.
• Captain Hon. George Charles Spencer (1903–1982), married (1) Barbara Blumenthal and had issue, married (2) Kathleen Henderson; no issue.
• Lady Alexandra Margaret Elizabeth Spencer (1906–1996), married Hon. Henry Douglas-Home (son of the 13th Earl of Home) and had issue. She was the author of "A Spencer Childhood", published in 1994.^[15]

Lord Spencer died in September 1922 at his home in St James Place, London, aged 64. He had been ill for four months after contracting a 'chill' at a public event in his home county of Northamptonshire.^[16] His eldest son Albert succeeded in the earldom.

Styles of address and coat of arms

Styles of address

• 1857-1880: The Honourable Charles R. Spencer
• 1880-1892: The Honourable Charles R. Spencer MP
• 1892: The Honourable Charles R. Spencer VD MP
• 1892-1895: The Right Honourable Charles R. Spencer VD MP
• 1895-1900: The Right Honourable Charles R. Spencer VD
• 1900-1905: The Right Honourable Charles R. Spencer VD MP
• 1905-1910: The Right Honourable The First Viscount Althorp VD PC
• 1910-1911: The Right Honourable The Sixth Earl Spencer VD PC
• 1911-1913: The Right Honourable The Sixth Earl Spencer GCVO VD PC
• 1913-1922: The Right Honourable The Sixth Earl Spencer KG GCVO VD PC

Coat of arms

Arms of Charles Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer

Coronet A Coronet of an Earl Crest Out of a Ducal Coronet Or a Griffin's Head Azure gorged with a Bar Gemelle Gules between two Wings expanded of the second Escutcheon Quarterly Argent and Gules in the 2nd and 3rd quarters a Fret Or over all on a Bend Sable three Escallops of the first Supporters Dexter: A Griffin per fess Ermine and Erminois gorged with a Collar Sable the edges flory-counterflory and chained of the last and on the Collar three Escallops Argent; Sinister: A Wyvern Erect on his tail Ermine similarly collared and chained Motto Dieu Defend Le Droit (God defend the right)

Ancestry

Ancestors of Charles Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer

16. John Spencer               8. John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer                       17. Georgina Carolina Carteret               4. George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer                             18. Stephen Poyntz               9. Georgiana Poyntz                       19. Anna Maria Mordaunt               2. Frederick Spencer, 4th Earl Spencer                                   20. Sir John Bingham, 5th Baronet               10. Charles Bingham, 1st Earl of Lucan                       21. Anne Vesey               5. Lady Lavinia Bingham                             22. Sir James Smith               11. Margaret Smith                       23. Grace Dyke               1. Charles Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer                                         24. Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford               12. Lord Hugh Seymour                       25. Lady Isabella Fitzroy               6. Col. Sir Horace Beauchamp Seymour                             26. James Waldegrave, 2nd Earl Waldegrave               13. Lady Anne Horatia Waldegrave                       27. Maria Walpole               3. Adelaide Seymour                                   28. Robert Palk, 1st Baronet of Haldon House               14. Sir Lawrence Palk, 2nd Baronet of Haldon House                       29. Anne van Sittart               7. Elizabeth Malet Palk                             30. Wilmot Vaughan, 1st Earl of Lisburne               15. Lady Dorothy Elizabeth Vaughan                       31. Dorothy Shafto

References

1. Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901 PRO RG13 Piece 74 Folio 12 p. 16
2. thepeerage.com Charles Robert Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer
3. "Spencer, the Hon. Charles Robert, Viscount Althorp (SPNR877CR)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
4. F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1885 – 1918 (Macmillan Press Ltd., London, 1974) p.295
5. The London Gazette: no. 26320. p. 4881. 26 August 1892.
6. The London Gazette: no. 26321. p. 4958. 30 August 1892.
7. The London Gazette: no. 26643. p. 3945. 12 July 1895.
8. Michael Stenton and Stephen Lees, Who's Who of British Members of Parliament (Harvester Press, Sussex, 1978) vol. II p. 334
9. The London Gazette: no. 27868. p. 9319. 29 December 1905.
10. The London Gazette: no. 27866. p. 9171. 22 December 1905.
11. The London Gazette: no. 28581. p. 1169. 16 February 1912.
12. George Edward Cokayne, H A Doubleday and Lord Howard de Walden, The Complete Peerage (St Catherine's, London, 1940) vol. XIII p. 39
13. The London Gazette: no. 28736. p. 4966. 11 July 1913.
14. "Lavinia Emily White (née Spencer), Lady Annaly". National Portrait Gallery, London.
15. Charles Mosley (ed.), Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition (Burke's Peerage and Gentry LLC, 2003) vol. III p. 3695
16. The Times (London), Wednesday, 27 September 1922 p. 10 col. D

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Charles Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer