Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland

English peer, politician and landowner

"Hugh Smithson" redirects here. For other uses, see Hugh Smithson (disambiguation).

His Grace

The Duke of Northumberland

KG PC

Portrait by Joshua Reynolds

Personal details
Born|

Hugh Smithson

c. 1714
Newby Wiske
Died| 6 June 1786 (aged 71-72)
Resting place| Northumberland Vault, Westminster Abbey
Nationality| British
Spouse| Lady Elizabeth Seymour
Children| by Lady Elizabeth Seymour:
Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland
Algernon Percy, 1st Earl of Beverley
Lady Elizabeth Anne Frances Percy
by Elizabeth Hungerford Keate:
James Smithson
Parent(s)| Langdale Smithson
Philadelphia Reveley

Quartered coat of arms of Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, KG

Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, KG, PC (c. 1714 - 6 June 1786) was an English peer, politician, and landowner.

## Origins

[edit]

Hugh Smithson was born c. 1714, the son of Langdale Smithson (b. 1682) of Langdale, and Philadelphia Reveley. He was a grandson of Sir Hugh Smithson, 3rd Baronet, from whom he inherited the Smithson Baronetcy in 1733.[1]

## Marriage, projects and patronages

[edit]

United Kingdom legislation

Hugh Earl of Northumberland's Name and Arms Act 1749

Act of Parliament

Parliament of Great Britain

Long title| An Act to enable Hugh Earl of Northumberland and Elizabeth Countess of Northumberland and Baroness Percy his Wife, and their Children, Progeny, and Issue, to take and use the Name of Percy, and bear and quarter the Arms of the Percys Earls of Northumberland.
Citation| 23 Geo. 2. c. 14 Pr.
Dates
Royal assent| 12 April 1750

He changed his surname to Percy in 1749, nine years after his marriage with Lady Elizabeth Seymour (1716–1776), daughter of The 7th Duke of Somerset, on 16 July 1740, through a private act of Parliament, the Hugh Earl of Northumberland's Name and Arms Act 1749 (23 Geo. 2. c. 14 Pr.).[2]

She was Baroness Percy in her own right, and indirect heiress of the Percy family, which was one of the leading landowning families of England and had previously held the Earldom of Northumberland for several centuries. The title Earl of Northumberland passed by special remainder to Hugh Percy, as Elizabeth's husband, when her father died on 7 February 1750; he had been created 1st Earl of Northumberland in 1749. In 1766, the earl was created 1st Duke of Northumberland and was created Baron Lovaine on 28 June 1784, with a special remainder in favour of his younger son, Algernon[3] (in reference to the Louvain family of the Landgraviate of Brabant, which married the Percy heiress, was the origin of the Percy family of England). Richard de Percy, 5th Baron Percy (c. 1170–1244) (who adopted the surname Percy), was the son of Joscelin of Louvain (1121–1180), styled "brother of the queen" (referring to Adeliza of Louvain, second wife of King Henry I of England, by his wife Agnes de Perci, suo jure Baroness Percy, the heiress of the Percy estates in England.) He was created a Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1756 and a Privy Counsellor in 1762.[citation needed]

He took a somewhat prominent part in politics as a follower of Lord Bute, and was one of George III's confidential advisers. He held the office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1763 to 1765, and that of Master of the Horse from 1778 to 1780.[3]

Sir Hugh and Lord Brooke (later created Earl of Warwick) were the most important patrons of Canaletto in England. Smithson made a Grand Tour and was in Venice in 1733, where he acquired two large Canalettos for his seat at Stanwick. In 1736 he became one of the two vice presidents of the Society for the Encouragement of Learning. He rebuilt Stanwick Park c. 1739–1740, mostly to his own designs. He was one of the 175 commissioners for the building of Westminster Bridge, a structure he had Canaletto paint two more large canvases, c. 1747. He built an observatory, designed by Robert Adam, on Ratcheugh Crag, at Longhoughton.[4] Thomas Chippendale dedicated his Gentleman & Cabinet maker's director (1754) to him.

Northumberland Row, site of the ancient Smithson house in Tottenham High Cross.[5]

The duke and duchess were prominent patrons of Robert Adam for neoclassical interiors in the Jacobean mansion Northumberland House, the London seat of the Earls of Northumberland; it was demolished c. 1870–1871 to enable the creation of Trafalgar Square. Remnants of the Northumberland House Glass Drawing-Room are preserved at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The greater Adam interiors for the Duke are at Syon House, executed in the 1760s. At Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, the Duke employed James Wyatt, whose work has been effaced by later remodellings. One or other Adam designed Brizlee Tower for the duke.[citation needed]

## Landholdings / seats

[edit]

* Alnwick Castle, Northumberland
* Syon House, Middlesex
* Northumberland House, Strand, London
* Stanwick Hall, Stanwick St John, North Yorkshire, the seat of the Smithson baronets.
* Kielder Castle, in the Kielder Forest, Northumberland, a shooting box built in 1775 by the 1st Duke to his own design by William Newton.[6]

## Death and burial

[edit]

Hugh died in 1786 and was buried in the Northumberland Vault, within Westminster Abbey.[7][8]

## Family

[edit]

The duke and duchess had three children:[1]

* Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland (1742–1817)
* Algernon Percy, 1st Earl of Beverley (1750–1830)
* Lady Elizabeth Anne Frances Percy (died 1761); buried within the Northumberland Vault in Westminster Abbey.[8]

By Elizabeth Hungerford Keate Macie

* James Smithson FRS (1765–1829), was the duke's illegitimate son. He was a chemist and mineralogist. He made the founding bequest and provided the name for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.[9]

## Further reading

[edit]

* Cruickshanks, Eveline, biography of Smithson, Sir Hugh, 4th Bt. (1715–86), of Stanwick, Yorks. and Tottenham, Mdx., published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715–1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970 SMITHSON, Sir Hugh, 4th Bt. (1715–86), of Stanwick, Yorks. and Tottenham, Mdx. | History of Parliament Online

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Percy [formerly Smithson], Hugh, first duke of Northumberland (bap. 1712, d. 1786), politician". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/21943. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 8 February 2021. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2. ^ Deed Poll Office: Private Act of Parliament 1749 (23 Geo. 2). c. 14
3. ^ a b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Northumberland, Earls and Dukes of" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 788.
4. ^ Council, Northumberland County (12 June 2003). "Northumberland Communities". communities.northumberland.gov.uk.
5. ^ Inherited, with an estate worth £3,000 per annum, in 1740 by Sir Hugh Smithson, 4th Bart., from his cousin and Middlesex MP, Hugh Smithson (c1661-1740). (The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690–1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002). The site previously belonged to the family of Hynningham. (The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Tottenham, Volume 2, William Robinson, 1840). Monumental gate piers possibly came from the nearby Bruce Castle. Note the monogramme HS in the wrought iron gate. Photographed in May 2013. (The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715–1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970)
6. ^ Stuff, Good. "Kielder Castle, Kielder, Northumberland". britishlistedbuildings.co.uk.
7. ^ Goode, George Brown (1897). The Smithsonian Institution, 1846–1896, The History of Its First Half Century. Washington, D.C.: De Vinne Press. p. 7.
8. ^ a b pixeltocode.uk, PixelToCode. "Elizabeth, Countess of Mexborough". Westminster Abbey.
9. ^ "James Smithson". Smithsonian History. Smithsonian Institution Archives. Retrieved 6 May 2012.

## External links

[edit]

Media related to Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland at Wikimedia Commons

Parliament of Great Britain

Preceded by

Sir Francis Child
William Pulteney

|  Member of Parliament for Middlesex
1740–1750
With:  William Pulteney 1740–1742
Sir Roger Newdigate, Bt 1742–1747
Sir William Beauchamp-Proctor, Bt 1747–1750  | Succeeded by

Sir William Beauchamp-Proctor, Bt
George Cooke

Political offices
Preceded by

New government

|  Lord of the Bedchamber
1760–1762  | Succeeded by

The Earl of Denbigh

Preceded by

The Duke of Manchester

|  Lord Chamberlain to Queen Charlotte
1762–1763  | Succeeded by

The Earl Harcourt

Preceded by

The Earl of Halifax

|  Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
1763–1765  | Succeeded by

Viscount Weymouth

Preceded by

The Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven

|  Master of the Horse
1778–1780  | Succeeded by

The Duke of Montagu

Honorary titles
Preceded by

Mark Kirby

|  High Sheriff of Yorkshire
1738  | Succeeded by

Sir George Cooke

Preceded by

The Earl of Tankerville

|  Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland
1753–1786  | Succeeded by

The 2nd Duke of Northumberland

Custos Rotulorum of Northumberland
1753–1786
Vacant

Title last held by

Sir John Delaval |  Vice-Admiral of Northumberland
1755–1786
Preceded by

The Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne

|  Custos Rotulorum of Middlesex
1762–1786  | Vacant

Title next held by

Henry Dundas
Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex
1763–1786  | In Commission
Peerage of Great Britain
New creation |  Duke of Northumberland
1766–1786  | Succeeded by

Hugh Percy

Preceded by

Algernon Seymour

|  Earl of Northumberland
1750–1786
New creation |  Baron Lovaine
1784–1786  | Succeeded by

Algernon Percy

Baronetage of England
Preceded by

Hugh Smithson

|  Baronet
(of Stanwick)
1733–1786  | Succeeded by

Hugh Percy

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* FAST
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States

People|

* Ireland
* Deutsche Biographie

*[c.]: circa (about)