Hugh Fortescue, 2nd Earl Fortescue (13 February 1783 – 14 September 1861), styled Viscount Ebrington from 1789 to 1841, was a British Whig politician. He was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1839 to 1841.

Early life

Fortescue was the eldest son of Hugh Fortescue, 1st Earl Fortescue and Hester Grenville, daughter of Prime Minister George Grenville. He was educated at Eton and Brasenose College, Oxford.

Career

Fortescue (as Ebrington) first became an MP for Barnstaple, just after his 21st birthday; and he sat for various constituencies almost continuously until 1839, when he was summoned to the House of Lords through a writ of acceleration in his father's junior title of Baron Fortescue. Fearing the corruptive effects of militarism on British society, the latter sympathised with the liberalising side of the French Revolution: Ebrington would later publish his conversations with Napoleon in his Elba exile.

After the war, in 1817, Ebrington confirmed his breach with the bulk of his Grenville relatives, and emerged as a prominent pro-Reform Whig—albeit one somewhat unusually rooted in a liberal, morally intense Anglicanism,—which he combined with an interest in political economy. Ebrington strongly condemned the Six Acts as ”the most alarming attack ever made by Parliament upon the liberties and constitution of the country”; and during the 1820s, he would repeatedly promote and vote for Parliamentary Reform. When the Government resigned in the face of Tory intransigence in the House of Lords, Ebrington took the lead, despite leadership hesitations, in moving that the House of Commons implore the King “to call to his councils such persons only as will carry into effect unimpaired in all its essential provisions that Bill for reforming the Representation of the people which has recently passed this House”.

During the 1830s, Ebrington led a strong body of Reformist Whigs; In 1839, as Baron Fortescue, he served under Lord Melbourne as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, until in 1841 he succeeded his father in the earldom. He went on to serve under Lord John Russell as Lord Steward from 1846 to 1850; was sworn of the Privy Council in 1839; and created a Knight of the Garter in 1856.

Arms

Fortescue's coat of arms is blazoned azure, a bend engrailled argent plain cottised or, and the Motto is Forte Scutum Salus Ducum ("A Strong Shield is the Salvation of Leaders").

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File:Fortescue arms.svg|Arms of Fortescue

File:FortescueStatueInauguration1863Exeter.jpg|From Illustrated London News: "Inauguration of the Fortescue Memorial in the Castle Yard, Exeter 1863"

Image:wbs-foundation-stone.jpg|Foundation stone laid at West Buckland School by Earl Fortescue

File:WestBuckland.jpg|"Devon County School, West Buckland, recently opened by Earl Fortescue", Illustrated London News, 1861

File:Ebrington(d1861).jpg|Portrait of Hugh Fortescue when Viscount Ebrington, painted between 1826–1841 by Frederick Christian Lewis Sr, after Joseph Slater. National Portrait Gallery, London, NPG D20597

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Sources

References

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