James Grimston, 2nd Earl of Verulam

James Walter Grimston, 2nd Earl of Verulam (20 February 1809 – 27 July 1895), known as Viscount Grimston from 1815 to 1845, was a British peer and Conservative politician. He was the eldest son of James Walter Grimston, 1st Earl of Verulam, and Lady Charlotte Jenkinson. He succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Verulam in November 1845.

In 1860, The Times noted that Grimston was one of only three to hold peerages in all three Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland.[1]

Family

Lord Verulam married Elizabeth Joanna Weyland, daughter of Richard Weyland, in 1844. They had six children:

  • Lady Harriot Elizabeth Grimston (c.1845 – 15 August 1888), married Maj.-Gen. Francis Harwood Poore on 6 March 1885
  • Lady Jane Grimston (12 December 1848 – 2 November 1920), married Sir Alfred Jodrell, 4th Baronet on 25 February 1897
  • James Walter Grimston, 3rd Earl of Verulam (1852–1924)
  • Cmdr. Hon. William Grimston (7 January 1855 – 10 May 1900)
  • Lady Maud Grimston (c.1857 – 3 September 1929), married Maj. Paulyn Rawdon-Hastings, son of the 1st Baron Donington and the 10th Countess of Loudoun, and had issue
  • Canon Hon. Robert Grimston (18 April 1860 – 8 July 1928), married Gertrude Villiers and had issue, including the Conservative politician Robert Grimston, 1st Baron Grimston of Westbury.

Lord Verulam died in July 1895, aged 86, and was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son James.

Politics and business

Verulam was elected to the House of Commons for St Albans in 1830, a seat he held until 1831, and then represented Newport, Cornwall from 1831 to 1832 and Hertfordshire from 1832 to 1845. The latter year Verulam succeeded his father in the earldom and entered the House of Lords. He later served in the first two administrations of the Earl of Derby as a Lord-in-waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) in 1852 and from 1858 to 1859. Between 1845 and 1892 he also held the honorary post of Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire, in succession to his father.

Grimston owned property in Jamaica, and following the abolition of the slave trade, between 1836 and 1837 he was associated with claims of £7,359 18s 4d in compensation for the loss of 376 slaves.[2]

Cricket and other sport

Verulam played first-class cricket as a right-handed batsman. He was mainly associated with Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), making 21 appearances from 1830 to 1849. In contemporary scorecards to 1845, he was given as Lord Grimston.[3] He was also a supporter of the boxing arts and in the early 1850s, he and his brother Robert frequented middleweight champion Nat Langham's Rum Pum-Pas club, a dining and boxing establishment in Westminster popular with the aristocracy.[4]

Several members of his family were first-class cricketers: three of his brothers Edward, Robert and Francis all played, as did his nephews Walter Grimston and Lord Hyde.

Notes
  1. The Times, 9 February 1860; Peers of the Three Kingdoms.
  2. "Summary of Individual - Legacies of British Slave-ownership". www.ucl.ac.uk.
  3. Arthur Haygarth, Scores & Biographies, Volumes 2–4 (1827–1854), Lillywhite, 1862
  4. List of patrons, location and details of the Rum Pum-pas club in Thormanby, (1900) Boxers and their Battles; Antecdotal Sketches and Personal Recollections, London, R. A. Everett and Co., pg. 267-8.

References
  • Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Christopher Smith
John Easthope		 Member of Parliament for St Albans
1830–1831
With: Charles Tennant		 Succeeded by
Sir Francis Vincent
Richard Godson
Preceded by
Jonathan Raine
Sir Henry Hardinge		 Member of Parliament for Newport, Cornwall
1831–1832
With: Sir Henry Hardinge		 Constituency abolished
Preceded by
Sir John Sebright
Nicolson Calvert		 Member of Parliament for Hertfordshire
1832–1845
With: Sir John Sebright 1832–35
Nicolson Calvert 1832–35
Abel Smith 1835–45
Rowland Alston 1835–41
Granville Ryder 1841–45		 Succeeded by
Abel Smith
Granville Ryder
Thomas Plumer Halsey
Political offices
Preceded by
?		 Lord-in-waiting
1852		 Succeeded by
The Lord Camoys
Honorary titles
Preceded by
The Earl of Verulam		 Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire
1846–1892		 Succeeded by
The Earl of Clarendon
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
James Grimston		 Earl of Verulam
1845–1895		 Succeeded by
James Grimston
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