John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer
|The Right Honourable
The Earl Spencer
The Earl Spencer, by Thomas Gainsborough
19 December 1734
Althorp, Northamptonshire, England
|Died||31 October 1783
Bath, Somerset, England
|Resting place||Great Brington, Northamptonshire, England|
John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer (19 December 1734 – 31 October 1783) was a British peer and politician.
Spencer was MP (Whig) for Warwick from 1756 to 1761. He was also High Steward of St Albans in 1772 and Mayor of St Albans in 1779. On 3 April 1761, he was created Baron Spencer of Althorp and Viscount Spencer by George III, and on 1 November 1765, he was created Viscount Althorp and Earl Spencer.
On 20 December 1755, Spencer privately married Georgiana Poyntz (1737–1814), daughter of Stephen Poyntz, in his mother's dressing room at Althorp. They had five children:
- Lady Georgiana Spencer (1757–1806), married William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, and had issue.
- George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer (1758–1834)
- Lady Henrietta Frances Spencer (1761–1821), married Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough, and had issue.
- Lady Charlotte Spencer (1765–1766), died in infancy.
- Lady Louisa Spencer (b. & d. 1769), died in infancy.
He was the great-great-great-great-grandfather of Diana, Princess of Wales.
- Spencer, Charles (1999). Althorp: The Story of an English House. London: Viking. ISBN 978-0-312-20833-2.
- Battiscombe, Georgina (1984). The Spencers of Althorp. London: Constable. ISBN 978-0-09-465700-7.
- Milward, Richard (2004). "Spencer, John, first Earl Spencer (1734–1783)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/38713. Retrieved 2009-06-27. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
- Burke, John (1833). A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. London: H. Colburn and R. Bentley. p. 466.
|Parliament of Great Britain|
|Member of Parliament for Warwick
With: Henry Archer
|Peerage of Great Britain|
|New creation||Earl Spencer,
|New creation||Viscount Spencer,
Baron Spencer of Althorp
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