Herbert, Henry Howard Molyneux, 4th Earl of Carnarvon (1831 -1890)

Henry Herbert Molyneux, 4th Earl of Carnarvon, was the eldest son of Henry John George, 3rd Earl of Carnarvon, and Henrietta Anna, eldest daughter of Lord Henry Thomas Molyneux Howard, and niece of the 12th Duke of Norfolk. Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, where he matriculated 17 October 1849, he succeeded his father 10 December 1849, took a first in Litterae Humaniores in 1852, and toured in Turkey and Syria the following year. On his return he devoted himself to politics, making his maiden speech in the House of Lords in January 1854. He married, firstly, 5 September 1861, Evelyn, only daughter of George Augustus Frederick Stanhope, 6th Earl of Chesterfield, and eventual heir of George Philip Cecil Arthur, 7th Earl. She died 25 January 1875, and his lordship married, secondly, 26 December 1878, Elizabeth Catherine, eldest daughter of Henry Howard, of Greystoke Castle, Cumberland. He was Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1866 1867 and from 1874 1878, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1885 1886, and President of the Society of Antiquaries, High Steward of the University of Oxford, and Constable of Carnarvon Castle. The Carnarvon Library, including a large part of the Chesterfield books, which were inherited by the 4th Earl, on the death of the 7th Earl of Chesterfield, were sold by the 5th Earl of Carnarvon at Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge 8 April 1919.