View source for George Lambton, 2nd Earl of Durham

{{Short description|British peer}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name             = The Earl of Durham
| honorific_suffix =
| office           = [[Lord-Lieutenant of County Durham]]
| term_start       = 1854
| term_end         = 1879
| predecessor      = [[Charles Stewart, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry|The Marquess of Londonderry]]
| successor        = [[George Vane-Tempest, 5th Marquess of Londonderry|The Marquess of Londonderry]]
| birth_name       = George Frederick D'Arcy Lambton
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1828|09|05|df=yes}}
| birth_place      = Copse Hill, [[Wimbledon, London|Wimbledon]], [[England]]
| death_date       = {{dda|1879|11|27|1828|09|05|df=yes}}
| death_place      = [[Mayfair, London]], England
| education        =
| alma_mater       = [[Cambridge University]]
| occupation       =
| parents          = [[John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham]]<br>Lady Louisa Elizabeth
| spouse           = {{marriage|Lady Beatrix Frances Hamilton<br>|23 May 1854|21 January 1871|reason=her death}}
| children         = 13
| relations        =
}}
'''George Frederick D'Arcy Lambton, 2nd Earl of Durham''' (5 September 1828 – 27 November 1879), styled '''Viscount Lambton''' from 1833 to 1840, was a [[British peerage|British peer]].
==Early life==
Lambton was born on 5 September 1828 at Copse Hill, [[Wimbledon, London|Wimbledon]] and was baptised at [[St Mary's Church, Wimbledon]] on 29 September that year.<ref name="EarlDurham"/> He was the second (and, later, eldest surviving) son of [[John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham]], and his second wife Lady Louisa Elizabeth.<ref name="Dod1844">{{cite book |last1=Dod |first1=Charles Roger |title=The Peerage Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland... |date=1844 |publisher=Whittaker |page=[https://archive.org/details/peeragebaronetag00dodc/page/128 128] |url=https://archive.org/details/peeragebaronetag00dodc|language=en}}</ref> His mother was a daughter of [[Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey]]. He was known by his third name of D'Arcy, the maiden name of an ancestor whose inheritance included land surrounding what would later become [[Lambton Castle]].  From his father's first marriage to Harriet Cholmondeley (the illegitimate daughter of [[George Cholmondeley, 1st Marquess of Cholmondeley]]), his elder half-sister was Lady Frances Charlotte Lambton, who married [[John Ponsonby, 5th Earl of Bessborough]].<ref name="EarlDurham"/>
At age 11, Lambton inherited the earldom of Durham when his father, who served as [[British Ambassador to Russia]] and [[Governor-General of Canada]], died in 1840. His mother died from a severe cold just over a year later. He attended [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], in 1846.<ref name="Colville1988">{{cite book |last1=Colville |first1=John |title=Those Lambtons!: A Most Unusual Family |date=1988 |publisher=[[Hodder & Stoughton]] |isbn=9780340427682 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VBABPQAACAAJ|language=en}}</ref>
==Public life==
Lord Durham served as [[Lord-Lieutenant of County Durham]] from 1854 to 1879.<ref name="Colville1988"/>
On 19 July 1877, the Earl of Durham signed a document giving an acre of his land to be used for the construction of a church in the newly formed parish of Fatfield. [http://www.stgeorgesfatfield.co.uk/ Fatfield, St George's church, Washington] was completed in 1879 and was built in the Early English Gothic style.
==Personal life==
On 23 May 1854, Lord Durham married Lady Beatrix Frances Hamilton (1835–1871) at [[St George's, Hanover Square]].  Lady Beatrix was the second daughter of [[James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn]] and Lady Louisa Jane Russell (a daughter of [[John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford]]. Together, they had thirteen children:<ref name="EarlDurham">{{cite web |title=Durham, Earl of (UK, 1833) |url=http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/durham1833.htm |website=www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk |publisher=Heraldic Media Limited |accessdate=29 September 2019}}</ref>
* [[John Lambton, 3rd Earl of Durham|John George Lambton, 3rd Earl of Durham]] (1855–1928), who married Ethel Elizabeth Louisa Milner, a daughter of Henry Beilby William Milner.<ref name="EarlDurham"/> He had a child out of wedlock with the dancer [[Letty Lind]].
* [[Frederick Lambton, 4th Earl of Durham|Frederick William Lambton, 4th Earl of Durham]] (1855–1929) who married Beatrix Bulteel, a daughter of John Bulteel.<ref name="EarlDurham"/>
* Adm. Hon. Sir [[Hedworth Meux|Hedworth Lambton]] (later Meux) (1856–1929), [[Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy)|Admiral of the Fleet]], who married Hon. Mildred Cecilia Harriet, Dowager Viscountess Chelsea, daughter of [[Henry Sturt, 1st Baron Alington]], on 18 April 1910. They had no issue.<ref name="EarlDurham"/>
* Hon. Charles Lambton (1857–1949), who married Lavinia Marion Garforth and had issue.<ref name="EarlDurham"/>
* Lady Beatrix Louisa Lambton (1859–1944), who married [[Sidney Herbert, 14th Earl of Pembroke]] and had issue.<ref name="EarlDurham"/>
* Hon. [[George Lambton]] (1860–1945), who married Cicely Margaret Horner and had issue.<ref name="EarlDurham"/><ref name="Dod's1908">{{cite book |title=Dod's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, of Great Britain and Ireland, for ...: Including All the Titled Classes |date=1908 |publisher=S. Low, Marston & Company |page=1138 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a2iSNbw1UlYC&pg=PA1138|language=en}}</ref>
* Lady Katherine Frances Lambton (1862–1952), who married [[George Osborne, 10th Duke of Leeds]] and had issue.
* Maj.-Gen. Hon. Sir [[William Lambton (British Army officer)|William Lambton]] (1863–1936), who married (as her second husband) Lady Katherine de Vere Somerset, née Beauclerk, daughter of [[William Beauclerk, 10th Duke of St Albans]] on 22 April 1921. They had no issue.<ref name="EarlDurham"/>
* Hon. Claud Lambton (1865–1945), who married Lettice Wormald and had issue.<ref name="EarlDurham"/>
* Captain The Hon. D'Arcy Lambton Royal Navy (1866–1954), married Florence Ethel Sproule and had issue.<ref name="EarlDurham"/>
* Lady Eleanor Lambton (1868–1959), who married [[Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood]].<ref name="EarlDurham"/>
* Lady Anne Lambton (1869–1922).<ref name="EarlDurham"/>
* Hon. Francis Lambton (1871–1914), who was [[killed in action]] near [[Zandvoorde (Zonnebeke)|Zandvoorde]], Belgium, during [[World War I]].<ref name="EarlDurham"/>
The Countess of Durham died on 21 January 1871, aged 35, and just three days after the birth of her youngest child.  In 1876, Lord Durham had his right eye removed after he was shot by his son, Charles, while on a shooting party. Lord Durham died at 6:05pm on 27 November 1879 at his town house on Hill Street in Mayfair, aged 51, and was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest twin son [[John Lambton, 3rd Earl of Durham|John]].  The Earl and Countess and some of their children are buried in St Barnabas' Church, [[Bournmoor]], which the Earl had built at his own expense when the parish was created in 1867.
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw193949/George-Frederick-DArcy-Lambton-2nd-Earl-of-Durham George Frederick D'Arcy Lambton, 2nd Earl of Durham] at the [[National Portrait Gallery, London]].
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{{Succession box | title=[[Lord Lieutenant of Durham]] | before=[[Charles Stewart, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry|The Marquess of Londonderry]] | years=1854–1879 | after=[[George Vane-Tempest, 5th Marquess of Londonderry|The Marquess of Londonderry]]}}
{{S-reg|uk}}
{{Succession box|title=[[Earl of Durham]]|before=[[John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham|John Lambton]]|after=[[John Lambton, 3rd Earl of Durham|John Lambton]]|years=1840–1879}}
{{S-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durham, George Lambton, 2nd Earl Of}}
[[Category:1828 births]]
[[Category:1879 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Earls in the Peerage of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Lambton family|George Lambton, 2nd Earl of Durham]]
[[Category:Lord-lieutenants of Durham]]