Edward Harley, 3rd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer

Who was Edward Harley, 3rd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer?

Edward Harley, 3rd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer was a British peer.

Harley was the son of Edward Harley and his wife Sarah Foley. He succeeded his cousin Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer in the earldom in 1741. One of his first acts on succeeding was to auction off his predecessor's art collection through the auctioneer Cock, at a sale held under the Piazza, Covent Garden, on 8 March 1741/2 and the five following days, with six more days being required by the coins. Nearly all the leading men of the day, including Horace Walpole, attended or were represented at this sale, and the prices varied from five shillings for an anonymous bishop's "head" to 165 guineas for van Dyck's group of "Sir Kenelm Digby, lady, and son".