The Earl of Strafford
Comptroller of the Household
In office
6 May 1835  23 June 1841
MonarchsWilliam IV
Victoria
Prime MinisterThe Viscount Melbourne
Preceded byHon. Henry Lowry-Corry
Succeeded byLord Marcus Hill
Treasurer of the Household
In office
23 June 1841  30 August 1841
MonarchVictoria
Prime MinisterThe Viscount Melbourne
Preceded byEarl of Surrey
Succeeded byEarl Jermyn
Personal details
Born(1806-06-08)8 June 1806
Died29 October 1886(1886-10-29) (aged 80)
NationalityBritish
Political partyWhig
Spouse(s)(1) Lady Agnes Paget
(c. 1809–1845)
(2) Hon. Harriett Cavendish
(d. 1892)
Alma materRoyal Military Academy Sandhurst
Arms of Byng, Earl of Stratford, being the arms of John Byng, 1st Earl of Strafford, namely paternal arms of Byng (Quarterly sable and argent in the first quarter a lion rampant of the second), with augmentation of honour granted in 1815 by the Prince Regent of in bend sinister a representation of the colour of the 31st Regiment of Foot, in recognition of his heroic action at the Battle of the Nive

George Stevens Byng, 2nd Earl of Strafford, PC (8 June 1806 – 29 October 1886), styled Viscount Enfield between 1847 and 1860, of Wrotham Park in Middlesex (now Hertfordshire) and of 5 St James's Square, London, was a British peer and Whig politician.

Origins

Byng was the eldest son of Field Marshal John Byng, 1st Earl of Strafford (1772–1860) by his first wife, Mary Mackenzie.[1]

Military career

In 1822, after graduating from the Royal Military College, Byng joined the 29th Regiment of Foot as an ensign by purchase. In 1825 he transferred to the 85th Regiment of Foot as a lieutenant and was promoted to captain in 1826, in which rank he served in the 60th Rifles. In 1837, after he had begun his political career, he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the part-time Royal West Middlesex Militia.[2] On the death of the regiment's colonel in 1844 Byng succeeded to the command. His eldest son, the Hon George Byng, was commissioned as his lt-col on 30 October 1853. He retired from the command and became the regiment's Honorary Colonel on 5 December 1859.[3]

Political career

Byng's political career began in 1830 when he was elected as a Member of Parliament for Milborne Port,[4] a seat he briefly held before taking the post of Comptroller of the Household to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland (his father-in-law, Lord Anglesey), less than a year later. When his former co-MP, William Sturges-Bourne resigned his seat a few weeks later, Byng returned to his former seat and held it until the Great Reform Bill of 1832 abolished the constituency.[4] From 1834 he was MP for the new constituency of Chatham, a seat he held until 1835 and again from 1837 to 1852.[5] He served under Lord Melbourne as a Lord of the Treasury between June and November 1834.

According to the Legacies of British Slave-Ownership at the University College London, Strafford made an unsuccessful claim for compensation in the aftermath of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 with the Slave Compensation Act 1837.[6]

Between 1836 and 1837 he represented Poole in parliament.[7] He again served under Lord Melbourne as Comptroller of the Household between 1835[8] and 1841[9] and as Treasurer of the Household between June[9] and August 1841[10] and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1835.[11] When Lord John Russell became Prime Minister in 1846, Byng was appointed Joint Secretary to the Board of Control, a post he retained until 1847.

After losing his parliamentary seat in 1852, Byng was summoned to the House of Lords through a writ of acceleration in his father's barony of Strafford a year later[12] and inherited his father's earldom in 1860.

Marriages and progeny

Byng married twice:

Death

Lord Strafford died in October 1886, aged 80, and was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son, George. The Countess of Strafford died in June 1892.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 thepeerage.com George Stevens Byng, 2nd Earl of Strafford
  2. London Gazette, 5 January 1838.
  3. Lt-Col H.G. Hart, The New Annual Army List, and Militia List (various dates from 1840).
  4. 1 2 "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Mayo to Minehead". Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Carmarthen East and Dinefwr to Chesterton". Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 5 December 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. "George Stevens Byng, 2nd Earl of Strafford". University College London. Retrieved on 20 March 2019.
  7. "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Plymouth to Putney". Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. "No. 19274". The London Gazette. 29 May 1835. p. 1024.
  9. 1 2 "No. 19994". The London Gazette. 29 June 1841. p. 1683.
  10. "No. 20017". The London Gazette. 10 September 1841. p. 2273.
  11. "No. 19274". The London Gazette. 29 May 1835. p. 1023.
  12. "No. 21429". The London Gazette. 8 April 1853. p. 1028.
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