Henry Herbert, 9th Earl of Pembroke
Encyclopedia
Lt.-Gen. Henry Herbert, 9th Earl of Pembroke, 6th Earl of Montgomery PC FRS (29 January 1693 – 9 January 1750) was the heir and eldest son of Thomas Herbert
Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke
Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke, 5th Earl of Montgomery, KG, PC, FRS was a British politician during the reigns of William III and Anne....

 (c. 1656–1733) and his first wife Margaret. He was styled Lord Herbert from birth until he inherited his father's earldoms of Pembroke
Earl of Pembroke
Earl of Pembroke is a title created ten times, all in the Peerage of England. It was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title is associated with Pembroke, Pembrokeshire in West Wales, which is the site of Earldom's original seat Pembroke Castle...

 and Montgomery
Earl of Montgomery
The title Earl of Montgomery was created in the Peerage of England in 1605 for Sir Philip Herbert, younger son of the 2nd Earl of Pembroke. The first Earl inherited the Earldom of Pembroke in 1630 from his brother, the 3rd Earl, and the two titles have been united ever since.* Philip Herbert, 4th...

 in 1733.

Life

Studying at Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...

 up to 1705 in a milieu of classicist architecture (its dean, Henry Aldrich, was then at work on his Elementa architecturae and on overseeing construction of the Peckwater quadrangle, Palladian before Palladianism was popular in England) he went on a grand tour
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...

 in 1712 (meeting Lord Shaftesbury
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury
Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury was an English politician, philosopher and writer.-Biography:...

 in Naples, William Kent
William Kent
William Kent , born in Bridlington, Yorkshire, was an eminent English architect, landscape architect and furniture designer of the early 18th century.He was baptised as William Cant.-Education:...

 in Rome, and also going to Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

).

He was appointed lord of the bedchamber
Lord of the Bedchamber
A Lord of the Bedchamber, previously known as a Gentleman of the Bedchamber was a courtier in the Royal Household of the King of the United Kingdom and the Prince of Wales. A Lord of the Bedchamber's duties consisted of assisting the King with his dressing, waiting on him when he ate in private,...

 to George II
George II of Great Britain
George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death.George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany...

 during his time as the prince of Wales. He was made a deputy lieutenant
Deputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....

 of Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...

 on 29 January 1715, and was commissioned captain & lieutenant-colonel in the Coldstream Guards
Coldstream Guards
Her Majesty's Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, also known officially as the Coldstream Guards , is a regiment of the British Army, part of the Guards Division or Household Division....

 on 12 August 1717. On 20 September 1721, he was promoted to the rank of colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

, and made captain & colonel of the 1st Troop of Horse Guards
1st Troop of Horse Guards
The 1st Troop of Horse Guards was formed from King Charles II's exiled followers in the Netherlands ....

.

Upon the accession of George II in 1727, Herbert remained his close associate, and was made first lord of the bedchamber. After acceding to the earldom on 9 January 1733, Pembroke left the Horse Guards and was appointed colonel of The King's Own Regiment of Horse
1st King's Dragoon Guards
The 1st King's Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army. The regiment was formed in 1685 as The Queen's Regiment of Horse, named in honour of Queen Mary, consort of King James II. It was renamed The King's Own Regiment of Horse in 1714 in honour of George I...

 (22 June 1733). Later that year (24 August), he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire
Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire
This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire. From 1750, all Lord Lieutenants have also been Custos Rotulorum of Wiltshire.-Lord Lieutenants of Wiltshire:*William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke 1551 – 17 March 1570...

. George II continued to favor Pembroke, who was appointed groom of the stole
Groom of the Stole
Groom of the Stole in the British Royal Household is a position dating from the Stuart era but which evolved from the earlier Groom of the Stool, an office in existence until the accession of Elizabeth I. The original nomenclature derived from the chair used in the performance of the function...

 on 8 January 1735 and sworn a Privy Councillor the next day. However, he proved unsuccessful in his attempts to mediate between George and his son prince Frederick
Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales was a member of the House of Hanover and therefore of the Hanoverian and later British Royal Family, the eldest son of George II and father of George III, as well as the great-grandfather of Queen Victoria...

. Though he exercised powerful patronage in Wilton
Wilton (UK Parliament constituency)
Wilton was the name of a parliamentary borough in Wiltshire. It was represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of England from 1295 to 1707, then in the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and finally in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of the Parliament of the...

, his local constituency, Pembroke played only a slight role in national politics.

He shared his father's antiquarian tastes (commissioning Andrew Fountaine
Andrew Fountaine (architect)
Sir Andrew Fountaine was an English antiquarian, art collector and amateur architect.-Life:...

 to supervise the cataloguing of his father's collections), but expressed them through architecture rather than collecting. He is known to have designed seven buildings, two of which are no longer standing, these are the Earl's own house, Pembroke House, Whitehall
Pembroke House, Whitehall
Pembroke House, located on Whitehall, was the London residence of the earls of Pembroke-History:It was built by the "architect earl" Henry Herbert in 1723–24 , on ground leased by the earl in 1717 and 1729 amidst the ruins of the parts of Whitehall Palace that burned down in 1698...

 of 1717, demolished 1756-7 and Wimbeldon House 1732-3, Surrey for the Duchess of Marlborough, burnt down in 1785. Opinions of his talents in that area were mixed — Horace Walpole stated that "no man had a purer taste in building" but Sarah, duchess of Marlborough wrote that the Earl's talent was little more than to "imitate ill whatever was useless" in Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones is the first significant British architect of the modern period, and the first to bring Italianate Renaissance architecture to England...

 and Palladio's buildingsAlthough he designed the Column of Victory at Blenheim Palace
Blenheim Palace
Blenheim Palace  is a monumental country house situated in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, residence of the dukes of Marlborough. It is the only non-royal non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace. The palace, one of England's largest houses, was built between...

 erect 1727-30 for the Duchess of Marlborough as a memorial to her late husband. As one of the "architect earls", he collaborated with Roger Morris
Roger Morris (1695-1749)
Roger Morris was an English architect whose connection with Colen Campbell brought him to the attention of Henry Herbert, 9th Earl of Pembroke, with whom Morris collaborated on a long series of projects.-Biography:...

 to design Marble Hill House
Marble Hill House
Marble Hill House is a Palladian villa on the River Thames in southwest London, situated halfway between Richmond and Twickenham. The architect was Roger Morris, who collaborated with Henry Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, one of the "architect earls", in adapting a more expansive design by Colen...

 (1724–29), the White Lodge, Richmond (1727–28), and the Palladian Bridge over the little River Nadder at Wilton House
Wilton House
Wilton House is an English country house situated at Wilton near Salisbury in Wiltshire. It has been the country seat of the Earls of Pembroke for over 400 years....

 (1736/7). He also designed the water tower at Houghton Hall
Houghton Hall
Houghton Hall is a country house in Norfolk, England. It was built for the de facto first British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, and it is a key building in the history of Palladian architecture in England...

 (c.1730) in the form of a garden temple, with a pedimented portico raised on a high rusticated base.

The mason William Townsend executed the Earl's design for the Column of Victory, at Blenheim Palace and the water tower at Houghton Hall. The Earl also inspected Townsend's design of Westcombe House, Blackheath, Kent (1727–8) and as well as parts of the design of Castle Hill, Devon (1729). He also redecorated a few of the rooms in the south front of Wilton House
Wilton House
Wilton House is an English country house situated at Wilton near Salisbury in Wiltshire. It has been the country seat of the Earls of Pembroke for over 400 years....

. Though he was uninvolved in its design, he also acted as an energetic promoter of the project to build Westminster Bridge
Westminster Bridge
Westminster Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames between Westminster on the north side and Lambeth on the south side, in London, England....

, getting the relevant Act of Parliament through in 1738, laying the first stone in January 1739 (and the last stone of the main structure in 1747), attending 120 meetings of the bridge commissioners (the last on the morning of his death), and consistently supporting its designer Charles Labelye
Charles Labelye
Charles Labelye was a Swiss bridge engineer and mathematician. Moving to England in the 1720s and receiving patronage from the Duke of Bedford and Earl of Pembroke, he is best known there for his work on the original Westminster Bridge and his invention on that project of caissons as a method of...

 and his caisson design against long and fierce opposition (after the subsidence of one pier in 1747, The Downfall of Westminster Bridge, or, My Lord in the Suds mocked him for this support, but he was ultimately vindicated).

He enjoyed swimming, played tennis every day and generally remained continually active and healthy and (as seen in Roubiliac's portrait bust of him at Wilton) was strong and powerfully built and strong, but he seems to have developed asthma (Walpole mentions this in his detailed account of the Earl's death) and spent some weeks at Bath in winter 1743, during which he experienced breathing difficulties. Pembroke was promoted lieutenant-general on 18 February 1742, and became a Fellow of the Royal Society on 15 December 1743. During the king's trip to Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...

 in 1748, he served as one of the Lords Justices. He died at Pembroke House in 1750.

Marriage and issue

He and Mary FitzWilliam (eldest daughter of Richard FitzWilliam, 5th Viscount FitzWilliam
Richard FitzWilliam, 5th Viscount FitzWilliam
Richard FitzWilliam, 5th Viscount FitzWilliam PC was an Irish nobleman and politician. He succeeded to the Viscountcy of FitzWilliam in 1704, and became a member of the Irish Privy Council in 1715. He was elected Member of Parliament for Fowey in 1727, a seat he held until 1734.In 1711 he built...

) married on 28 August 1733, and they only had one child, Henry
Henry Herbert, 10th Earl of Pembroke
Henry Herbert, 10th Earl of Pembroke, 7th Earl of Montgomery was the son of the ninth earl of Pembroke, and was named after his father.-Biography:...

, who inherited his father's earldoms.

External links

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