Francis Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon

British, 1728 - 1789

BiographyFrancis Hastings was born on April 5, 1728, the eldest of seven children of Theophilus Hastings, 9th Earl of Huntingdon (1696-1746), and his wife Selina (Shirley) (1707-1791), a leader of the Methodist evangelical revival. He was eighteen when his father died and he became 10th Earl of Huntingdon. Thereafter, a series of mentors painstakingly groomed him for the preeminent role in national life that his talents and royal pedigree (as a descendent of George, Duke of Clarence, brother of King Edward IV) seemed to assure him. In particular, Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773), oversaw each step in the social and intellectual education of young Huntingdon, whom he praised as "the bright exemplar of the union of a scholar with the man of the world." In 1749 Huntingdon enrolled in a provincial academy in Caen, France, in order to prepare for the Grand Tour of Europe. A year later, he journeyed to Paris with his friend David Murray, 7th Viscount Stormont (1727-96). Huntingdon's affair with Mademoiselle Lany, a dancer at the Opera, resulted in the birth of a son, Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Hastings, Bart. In August 1752 Huntingdon left Paris for Spain, where his self-importance irritated the British minister, Sir Benjamin Keene (1697-1757). He visited Gibraltar (April 1753) and Lisbon (May 1753) before returning to England in early July 1753. The following July he left England for a second, two-year tour of the continent. In Italy he studied antiquities with the antiquarian Antonio Cocchi (a friend of his late father), as well as Joseph Wilton and the Abbé Venuti. Lord Chesterfield's five-year campaign to secure Huntingdon a position at the English court bore fruit in October 1756, when he became Master of the Horse to the Prince of Wales. In 1761 Huntingdon was made Groom of the Stole and in the same year he carried the sword of state at the coronation of George III. However, in July 1761 he and another courtier reportedly "had a great altercation on the subject of giving the King his shirt," and his imprudent conduct ultimately led to dismissal by the king in January 1770. Interested in history and science, Huntingdon gained election as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1758 and of the Society of Antiquaries in 1768. He failed to live up to his early promise, however. His burnished charm and worldly knowledge could make him good company, but snobbery and arrogance marred his character. In 1766 he launched a claim to the royal Dukedom of Clarence that preoccupied him for the rest of his life. Despite many rumored matches, Lord Huntingdon never married. He left England for the continent early in 1771, and from then on was frequently abroad. He died suddenly on October 2, 1789, while entertaining friends at the London house of his nephew, Francis Rawdon (1754-1826).

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