John Leicester, 1st Baron de Tabley
John Leicester, 1st Baron de Tabley (1762–1827) was an English politician, known also as an art patron and collector.
Early life
Born at Tabley House in Cheshire, 4 April 1762, he was the eldest son of Sir Peter Leicester, 4th Baronet, by his wife Catherine, coheiress of Sir William Fleming of Rydal, Westmoreland. His father was patron of Wilson, Barret, and other artists, and built the house at Tabley. The son John was taught to draw by Robert Marris, Thomas Vivares, and Paul Sandby.[1]
On the death of his father in 1770, Leicester succeeded to the baronetcy and estates. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he proceeded M. A. in 1784, and then travelled on the continent.[2] In Italy about 1786 he met Sir Richard Colt Hoare and they spent time together France and Italy.[1]
Politician
Leicester was elected Member of Parliament for Yarmouth, Isle of Wight in 1791, for Heytesbury, Wiltshire, in 1796, and for Stockbridge, Hampshire, in 1807. In parliament he supported the Prince Regent, and soon became one of the Prince's personal friends.[1]
Leicester acted also as lieutenant-colonel of the Cheshire militia, and after thirteen years' service was appointed colonel of a regiment of cavalry raised for home defence. During the Napoleonic Wars he raised the regiment eventually called the Cheshire Yeomanry. In 1817, it was involved in dispersing the Blanketeers, in Lancashire.[1]
Artistic and intellectual interests
Leicester promoted an English school of painting and sculpture. He collected examples of British art in a gallery in his London house in Hill Street, Berkeley Square, and from April 1818 onwards the public could view the collection. Leicester, with Hoare and Walter Ramsden Fawkes, the patron of Turner, contributed to the expansion of patronage to British artists. Part of his collection of pictures of the English school, of which a catalogue by William Paulet Carey was published in 1819, was sold by auction soon after his death and realised £7,466.[1][3]
In 1805-6 Leicester aided Sir Thomas Bernard in the foundation of the British Institution for the Encouragement of British Art. The Annals of the Fine Arts for 1819 was dedicated to him. He was honorary member of the Royal Irish Institution and the Royal Cork Society of Arts. Leicester was also interested in music and natural history, and late in life discussed with his friend William Jerdan an elaborate British Ichthyology. He sketched, mainly landscapes, and painted in oils. He also made a set of lithographic prints from his own drawings of landscapes and natural history subjects.[1]
Title and death
Leicester was created Baron De Tabley on 16 July 1826. He died at Tabley House on 18 June 1827.[1]
Family
Leicester married, on 9 November 1810, Georgiana Maria, youngest daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Cottin, a noted beauty.[1]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h Lee, Sidney, ed. (1892). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 32. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ "Leicester, John (LCSR781SJ)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1887). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 9. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1892). "Leicester, John Fleming". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 32. London: Smith, Elder & Co.