Biography

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Lord Robert Spencer ( 1747-1831)

Lord Robert Spencer was the youngest son of the second Duke of Marlborough. He was Whig MP for Woodstock (1768-71 and again 1818-20), Oxford City (1771-90), Wareham (1790-99), and Tavistock (1802-07); he was a friend of the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, the Duke of Clarence, the Duke of Cumberland, Lord Clermont, Charles James Fox, Mr. Sheridan, Colonel St. Leger, and Colonel Banastre Tarleton. Spencer's long-term mistress and then his wife was a Mrs. Bouverie.

Like many of Fox's friends, Spencer was a gambler who became so nearly bankrupt that he sold his collection of paintings. He then turned himself into a faro banker in a gambling club and in one year won £100,000. With this he purchased Woolbedding, near Midhurst, Sussex in 1791 and never again did he touch a card.

He was a Privy Counsellor in 1782 during the second Marquis of Rockingham's second ministry.