Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland

His Grace

The Duke of Northumberland

KG PC
His Grace; The Duke of Northumberland; KG PC
Personal details
Born	c. 1714
Died	11 February 1786 (aged 71–72)
Resting place	Northumberland Vault, Westminster Abbey
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	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
Parents	Langdale Smithson; Philadelphia Reveley

Coat of arms of Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, KG, PC

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

Origins[]

He was born Hugh Smithson, the son of Lansdale Smithson (b. 1682) of Langdale and Philadelphia Revely. He was a grandson of , from whom he inherited the Smithson Baronetcy in 1733.^[1]

Marriage, projects and patronages[]

He changed his surname to Percy when he married Lady Elizabeth Seymour (1716–1776), daughter of His Grace The 7th Duke of Somerset, on 16 July 1740, through a private Act of Parliament.^[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] (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.

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 , 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[]

Alnwick Castle, Northumberland
Syon House, Middlesex
Northumberland House, Strand, London
Stanwick Hall, Stanwick St John, 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[]

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

Family[]

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]

The duke's illegitimate son (by Elizabeth Hungerford Keate Macie), James Smithson (1765–1829), is famed for having made the founding bequest and provided the name for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C..^[9]

References[]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b "Percy [formerly Smithson], Hugh, first duke of Northumberland (bap. 1712, d. 1786), politician". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/21943. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
^ Deed Poll Office: Private Act of Parliament 1749 (23 Geo. 2). c. 14
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Northumberland, Earls and Dukes of" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 788.
^ Council, Northumberland County (12 June 2003). "Northumberland Communities". communities.northumberland.gov.uk.
^ 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)
^ Stuff, Good. "Kielder Castle, Kielder, Northumberland". britishlistedbuildings.co.uk.
^ Goode, George Brown (1897). The Smithsonian Institution, 1846–1896, The History of Its First Half Century. Washington, D.C.: De Vinne Press. p. 7.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b pixeltocode.uk, PixelToCode. "Elizabeth, Countess of Mexborough". Westminster Abbey.
^ "James Smithson". Smithsonian History. Smithsonian Institution Archives. Retrieved 6 May 2012.

External links[]

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	High Sheriff of Yorkshire 1738	Succeeded by
Preceded by The Earl of Tankerville	Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland 1753–1786	Succeeded by The 2nd Duke of Northumberland
Preceded by The Earl of Tankerville	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
Preceded by The Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne	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	Succeeded by Hugh Percy
New creation	Baron Lovaine 1784–1786	Succeeded by Algernon Percy
Baronetage of England
Preceded by	Baronet (of Stanwick) 1733–1786	Succeeded by Hugh Percy

[:0-1] Jump up to: ^a ^b "Percy [formerly Smithson], Hugh, first duke of Northumberland (bap. 1712, d. 1786), politician". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/21943. Retrieved 8 February 2021.

[2] Deed Poll Office: Private Act of Parliament 1749 (23 Geo. 2). c. 14

[EB1911-3] Jump up to: ^a ^b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Northumberland, Earls and Dukes of" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 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.

[Goode-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.

[auto-8] Jump up to: ^a ^b pixeltocode.uk, PixelToCode. "Elizabeth, Countess of Mexborough". Westminster Abbey.

[SIAmain-9] "James Smithson". Smithsonian History. Smithsonian Institution Archives. Retrieved 6 May 2012.

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