Spencer, Albert Edward John, 7th earl Spencer

Biography

Earl Spencer also held the titles of Viscount Althorp, Viscount Spencer, and Baron Spencer. He served as Justice of the Peace and County Alderman for Northamptonshire. From 1952, he was Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, receiving B.A. and M.A. degrees in 1913 and 1936. He served and was wounded in WWI (1914-19). A Captain in the late 1st Life Guards, he then held various honorary Colonel positions from 1924-61, and was made a Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Spencer was affiliated with a number of arts organizations. A Fellow of both the Royal Society of Arts and the Society of Antiquaries, he also served as a Trustee of the Wallace Collection (1945-66), as a member of the Standing Commission on Museums and Galleries (1948-66), and as Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Victoria and Albert Museum for several years beginning in 1961. King Edward VII was his sponsor. On 26 February 1919 he married Lady Cynthia Hamilton, daughter of the 3rd Duke of Abercorn. The couple had two children. Their son Edward John (Viscount Althorp and 8th Earl) had five children, the youngest of whom, Diana Frances [1961-1997], became the Princess of Wales upon her marriage to Charles, son of H.R.H. Queen Elizabeth.

Bibliography

1822

Dibdin, Thomas Frognall. Bibliotheca Spenceriana. Vol. 5, Aedes Althorpianae; an Account of the Mansion, Books, and Pictures, at Althorp.... London, 1822.

1906

Pierre-Marcel, René. "Collection du Comte Spencer." Les Arts 60 (December 1906).

1965

Cooper, Douglas, ed. Great Family Collections. New York, 1965:197-240

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