John Petty, 2nd Marquess of Lansdowne

Who was John Petty, 2nd Marquess of Lansdowne?

John Henry Petty, 2nd Marquess of Lansdowne was the eldest son of the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, William Petty-FitzMaurice, 2nd Earl of Shelburne and 1st Marquis of Lansdowne, by his first wife, Lady Sophia Carteret.

John Henry Petty-FitzMaurice travelled widely desipte his ill health, which in turn was not helped by the burden of the debts he inherited from his father. To repay, he sold almost all of his father’s collections, leaving Bowood House - the family seat - temporarily uninhabitable.

Like his father, he served in the House of Commons as MP for Wycombe from 1786 to 1802 but alas due to his weakened constitution, only survived his father by four years. He died childless and thus was succeeded to the Marquisate by his half brother, Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice.

He married Mary Arabella Maddox, the daughter of Rev. Hinton Maddox and the widow of Duke Gifford, on 27 May 1805.