William Keppel, 7th Earl of Albemarle

The Earl of Albemarle
The Right Honourable; The Earl of Albemarle; KCMG PC
	Viscount Bury, by Carlo Pellegrini, 1875.
Under-Secretary of State for War
	In office; 4 March 1878 – 21 April 1880
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Earl of Beaconsfield
Preceded by	The Earl Cadogan
Succeeded by	The Earl of Morley
	In office; 26 June 1885 – 28 June 1886
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by	The Earl of Morley
Succeeded by	The Lord Sandhurst
Personal details
Born	William Coutts Keppel; 15 April 1832; London, England
Died	28 August 1894 (aged 62)
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal; Conservative;
Spouse(s)	Sophia MacNab (m. 1855)
Children	Arnold Keppel, 8th Earl of Albemarle; Lady Gertrude Keppel; Lady Theodora Davidson; Sir Derek Keppel; Lady Hilda Keppel; George Keppel; Lady Leopoldina Keppel; Lady Susan Townley; Lady Mary Tagart; Florence Boyle, Countess of Cork;
Parents	George Keppel, 6th Earl of Albemarle; Susan Coutts Trotter;

William Coutts Keppel, 7th Earl of Albemarle, KCMG, PC (15 April 1832 – 28 August 1894), styled Viscount Bury between 1851 and 1891, was a British soldier and politician. He served in the British Army before entering parliament in 1857. Initially a Liberal, he served as Treasurer of the Household between 1859 and 1866 in the Liberal administrations headed by Lord Palmerston and Lord Russell. He later switched to the Conservatives and held office as Under-Secretary of State for War under Lord Beaconsfield between 1878 and 1880 and under Lord Salisbury between 1885 and 1886.

Early life

Keppel was born in London, England on 15 April 1832. He was the only son of General George Keppel, 6th Earl of Albemarle, by his wife Susan Coutts Trotter, daughter of Sir Coutts Trotter, 1st Baronet.

He was educated at Eton. He became known by the courtesy title Viscount Bury when his father succeeded in the earldom of Albemarle in 1851.[1]

Career

Keppel became an ensign and lieutenant in the 43rd (Regiment of) Foot in 1843, a lieutenant in the Scots Guards in 1848 and an aide-de-camp to Lord Frederick FitzClarence in India in 1853. From 1854 until 1856, he was Superintendent of Indian Affairs in Canada.[1]

He raised the 21st Middlesex Rifles Volunteer Corps (Civil Service Rifles) in 1860.

Political career

Initially a Liberal, Lord Bury was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Norwich in 1857,[2] and later represented Wick Burghs from 1860 to 1865[3] and Berwick-upon-Tweed from 1868 to 1874.[4] In 1859 he was sworn of the Privy Council[5] and appointed Treasurer of the Household under Lord Palmerston,[6] a post he held until 1866, the last year under the premiership of Lord Russell.[7] In 1870, he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George.[8] On 6 September 1876 he was summoned to the House of Lords through a writ of acceleration in his father's barony of Ashford.[9]

Two years later Lord Bury was appointed Under-Secretary of State for War in Lord Beaconsfield's Conservative administration, which he remained until the government fell in 1880. In 1881, he became a Volunteer Aide-de-Camp to the Queen. He was once again Under-Secretary of State for War from 1885 to 1886 under Lord Salisbury.

He wrote a history of the American colonization called Exodus of the Western Nations (1865), A Report on the Condition of the Indians of British North America, and was the principal author, with George Lacy Hillier, of the Cycling volume of the Badminton Library (1887). In 1891 he succeeded his father in the earldom.[1]

Personal life

The Right Honourable Sophia Countess of Albemarle

Lord Albemarle married Sophia Mary MacNab, a descendant of Loyalist Ephraim Jones and daughter of Sir Allan Napier MacNab, a Joint Premier of the Province of Canada, at Dundurn Castle, Hamilton, Canada, on 15 November 1855. [10] Together, they had ten children:[11]

Arnold Keppel, 8th Earl of Albemarle (1858–1942), who married Lady Gertrude Lucia Egerton, only child of Wilbraham Egerton, 1st Earl Egerton of Tatton.
Hon. Gertrude Mary Keppel (1859–1860), who died in infancy.
Lady Theodora Keppel (c. 1861–1945), who married Colonel Leslie Davidson and had issue.
Hon. Sir Derek William George Keppel (1863–1944).
Lady Hilda Mary Keppel (1864–1955), who died unmarried.
Lt Col. Hon. George Keppel (1865–1947), who married Alice Edmonstone, a long-time mistress of King Edward VII.
Lady Leopoldina Olivia Keppel (1866–1948), who became a nun.
Lady Susan Mary Keppel (1868–1953), who married Sir Walter Townley in 1896.
Lady Mary Stuart Keppel (1869–1906), who married Maj. Gen. Sir Harold Tagart in 1900.
Lady Florence Cecilia Keppel (1871–1963), who married William Boyle, 12th Earl of Cork in 1902.

Lord Albemarle was received into the Roman Catholic Church on Easter Sunday, 13 April 1879. He died in August 1894, aged 62, of paralysis, and was buried at Quidenham in Norfolk. His eldest son Arnold succeeded in the earldom. The Countess of Albemarle died in April 1917, aged 84.[1]

Descendants

He is also the great-great-grandfather of the current Earl, Rufus Keppel, 10th Earl of Albemarle, and of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and the modern-day television celebrity and Who Wants to be a Millionaire? champion Judith Keppel.

References

thepeerage.com William Coutts Keppel, 7th Earl of Albemarle
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "N" (part 3)
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 3)
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 2)
"No. 22283". The London Gazette. 8 July 1859. p. 2628.
"No. 22280". The London Gazette. 28 June 1859. p. 2513.
"No. 23115". The London Gazette. 11 May 1866. p. 2899.
"No. 23649". The London Gazette. 26 August 1870. p. 3947.
"No. 24360". The London Gazette. 5 September 1876. p. 4867.
Morgan, Henry James, ed. (1903). Types of Canadian Women and of Women who are or have been Connected with Canada. Toronto: Williams Briggs. p. 6.
"Albemarle, Earl of (E, 1696/7)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 25 August 2019.

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by William Keppel, 7th Earl of Albemarle

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Edward Warner Sir Samuel Bignold	Member of Parliament for Norwich 1857–1860 With: Henry William Schneider	Succeeded by Edward Warner Sir William Russell, Bt
Preceded by Samuel Laing	Member of Parliament for Wick Burghs 1860–1865	Succeeded by Samuel Laing
Preceded by Dudley Marjoribanks Alexander Mitchell	Member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed 1868–1874 With: John Stapleton	Succeeded by Dudley Marjoribanks David Milne Home
Political offices
Preceded by Lord Claud Hamilton	Treasurer of the Household 1859–1866	Succeeded by Lord Otho FitzGerald
Preceded by The Earl Cadogan	Under-Secretary of State for War 1878–1880	Succeeded by The Earl of Morley
Preceded by The Earl of Morley	Under-Secretary of State for War 1885–1886	Succeeded by The Lord Sandhurst
Peerage of England
Preceded by George Keppel	Earl of Albemarle 1891–1894	Succeeded by Arnold Keppel
Preceded by George Keppel	Baron Ashford (writ of acceleration) 1876–1894	Succeeded by Arnold Keppel

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[thepeerage.com-1] thepeerage.com William Coutts Keppel, 7th Earl of Albemarle

[2] Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "N" (part 3)

[3] Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 3)

[4] Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 2)

[5] "No. 22283". The London Gazette. 8 July 1859. p. 2628.

[6] "No. 22280". The London Gazette. 28 June 1859. p. 2513.

[7] "No. 23115". The London Gazette. 11 May 1866. p. 2899.

[8] "No. 23649". The London Gazette. 26 August 1870. p. 3947.

[9] "No. 24360". The London Gazette. 5 September 1876. p. 4867.

[10] Morgan, Henry James, ed. (1903). Types of Canadian Women and of Women who are or have been Connected with Canada. Toronto: Williams Briggs. p. 6.

[EarlAlbemarle-11] "Albemarle, Earl of (E, 1696/7)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 25 August 2019.