Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton


Augustus Henry FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, styled Earl of Euston between 1747 and 1757, was a British Whig statesman of the Georgian era. He is one of a handful of dukes who have served as prime minister.
He became prime minister in 1768 at the age of 33, leading the supporters of William Pitt, and was the youngest person to hold the office until the appointment of William Pitt the Younger 15 years later. However, he struggled to demonstrate an ability to counter increasing challenges to Britain's global dominance following the nation's victory in the Seven Years' War. He was widely attacked for allowing France to annex Corsica, and stepped down in 1770, handing over power to Lord North.

Background and education

Fitzroy was born on 9 October 1735. He was a son of Lord Augustus FitzRoy, a captain in the Royal Navy, and Elizabeth Cosby, the daughter of Colonel William Cosby, who served as a colonial Governor of New York. Lord Augustus was the third son of the 2nd Duke of Grafton and Lady Henrietta Somerset, which made FitzRoy a great-grandson of both the 1st Duke of Grafton and the Marquess of Worcester. He was notably a fourth-generation descendant of King Charles II and the 1st Duchess of Cleveland; the surname FitzRoy stems from this illegitimacy. His younger brother was the 1st Baron Southampton. Following the death of his uncle in 1747, he was styled Earl of Euston as his grandfather's heir apparent.
As Lord Euston, he went to live at Wakefield. As a boy, he met the prominent Whig statesman William Pitt the Elder at Stowe House, the seat of Lord Cobham and felt a deep sense of admiration for him. Lord Euston was educated at Newcome's School in Hackney and at Westminster School, made the Grand Tour, and obtained a degree at Peterhouse, Cambridge. Following his education, Lord Euston embarked on the Grand Tour across Europe. In 1754, he returned to England.

Political career

In 1756, he entered Parliament as Parliament (United Kingdom)|MP] for Boroughbridge, a pocket borough; several months later, he switched constituencies to Bury St Edmunds, which was controlled by his family. However, a year later, his grandfather died, and he succeeded as the 3rd Duke of Grafton, which elevated him to the House of Lords.
Grafton was immediately created the Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk and served in that capacity from 1757 to 1763, when he was dismissed by Lord Bute. He would again serve in that position from 1769 to 1790. In November 1756, he was appointed lord of the bedchamber to the Prince of Wales but he resigned from the post in June 1758.
He first became known in politics as an opponent of Lord Bute, a favourite of King George III. Grafton aligned himself with the Duke of Newcastle against Lord Bute, whose term as prime minister was short-lived largely because it was felt that the peace terms to which he had agreed at the Treaty of Paris were not a sufficient return for Britain's performance in the Seven Years' War.
In 1765, Grafton was appointed a Privy Counsellor; then, following discussions with William Pitt the Elder, he was appointed Northern Secretary in Lord Rockingham's first government. However, Rockingham retired the following year, and Pitt formed a ministry in which Grafton was First Lord of the Treasury but not the prime minister.
The ministry that assumed office was composed of a diverse coalition, including supporters of the King, followers of Chatham, and members of the official Whig faction. Initially, it maintained a fragile unity but was widely regarded as a temporary arrangement. Shortly after its formation, Chatham fell ill and withdrew to Bath, ceasing to participate in government affairs or communicate with his colleagues. By March 1767, the direction of government had passed to Grafton, marking the end of Chatham's administration.
On 20 September 1769, he was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Garter.

Prime minister

Chatham's illness, at the end of 1767, resulted in Grafton becoming the government's effective leader, but political differences, the impact of the Corsican Crisis and the attacks of "Junius" led to his resignation in January 1770. Also, in 1768, Grafton became Chancellor of Cambridge University. He became Lord Privy Seal in Lord North's ministry but resigned in 1775, being in favour of conciliatory action towards the American colonists. In the second Rockingham ministry of 1782, he was again Lord Privy Seal and continued in the post in the following Shelburne ministry until March 1783.

Militia career

Grafton was a strong supporter of moves to reform the militia during the Seven Years' War, and as Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk his county was one of the first to raise its quota, in two regiments on 27 April 1759. He soon took personal command of the West Suffolk Militia as its Colonel. The militia remained on active service until 1762. The militia was called out again after the outbreak of the War of American Independence when Britain was threatened with invasion by the Americans' allies, France and Spain. On 26 March 1778, Grafton was ordered to embody the two regiments once more. In that summer, the West Suffolks under Grafton formed part of a concentration at Coxheath Camp, near Maidstone in Kent, which was the army's largest training camp. The duke was chosen to train the grenadier companies of all the battalions in camp, and he worked them hard, 7–8 hours a day. Observers of the camp noted that the discipline of the West Suffolk Militia under Grafton was especially good. He resigned his commission on grounds of ill-health in February 1780, and his 20-year-old son and heir, George, Earl of Euston, succeeded him as colonel of the West Suffolk Militia.

Religious interests

In later years Grafton was a prominent Unitarian, being one of the early members of the inaugural Essex Street Chapel under Rev. Theophilus Lindsey when it was founded in 1774. Grafton had associated with a number of liberal Anglican theologians when at Cambridge, and devoted much time to theological study and writing after leaving office as prime minister. In 1773, in the House of Lords, he supported a bill to release Anglican clergy from subscribing to all the Thirty-nine Articles. He became a supporter of moral reform among the wealthy and of changes to the church. He was the author of:
  • Hints Submitted to the Serious Attention of the Clergy, Nobility and Gentry, by a Layman.
  • Serious Reflections of a Rational Christian from 1788–1797.
He was a sponsor of Richard Watson's Consideration of the Expediency of Revising the Liturgy and Articles of the Church of England, and he funded the printing of 700 copies of Griesbach's edition of the Greek New Testament in 1796.

Horseracing

The Duke also had horse racing interests. His racing colours in Great Britain|racing colours] were sky blue, with a black cap.

Legacy

, in the United States, is named in his honour, as is the city of Grafton, New South Wales, Australia, the town of Grafton, New York, the unincorporated community of Grafton, Virginia, and possibly the township of Grafton, West Virginia. The Grafton Centre Shopping Mall in Cambridge is also named after him and indeed lies on Fitzroy Street. Cape Grafton in Far North Queensland was named after him by Lieutenant James Cook during his first voyage of discovery.
Grafton had the longest post-premiership of any prime minister in British history, List of [prime ministers of the United Kingdom by age|totalling ].

Family

On 29 January 1756, he married The Hon. Anne Liddell, daughter of Henry Liddell, 1st Baron Ravensworth, at Lord Ravensworth's house in St James's Square, by licence. The marriage was witnessed by Lord Ravensworth and Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Earl of Hertford.
Augustus and Anne had three children:
In 1764, the Duke had a very public affair with the courtesan Nancy Parsons whom he kept at his townhouse and took to the opera, where they allegedly were found in flagrante delicto. This brazen lack of convention offended society's standards. After the Duchess had become pregnant by her own lover, the Earl of Upper Ossory, she and the Duke were divorced by Act of Parliament, passed 23 March 1769. Three months later, on 24 June 1769, the Duke married Elizabeth Wrottesley, daughter of the Reverend Sir Richard Wrottesley, Dean of Worcester. They had the following children:
Grafton is thus the first British prime minister before Anthony Eden to have been divorced, and the second, after Robert Walpole, to marry while in office. Grafton would be the only prime minister to divorce and remarry while in office until Boris Johnson in 2021.
FitzRoy died on 14 March 1811.

Arms

Cabinet of the Duke of Grafton