George Coventry, 8th Earl of Coventry

Who was George Coventry, 8th Earl of Coventry?

George William Coventry, 8th Earl of Coventry, styled Viscount Deerhurst from 1809 to 1831, was a British peer and Tory Member of Parliament.

Coventry was the eldest son of George Coventry, 7th Earl of Coventry, and his wife Peggy, and was educated at Christ Church, Oxford. He was elected to the House of Commons as one of two representatives for Worcester in 1816, a seat he held until 1826. In 1831 he succeeded his father in the earldom and entered the House of Lords. In 1838 he served as Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire.

Lord Coventry married firstly the Hon. Emma Susanna, daughter of William Lygon, 2nd Baron Beauchamp, subsequently created 1st Earl Beauchamp, in 1808. She died in 1810. He married secondly Lady Mary, daughter of Aubrey Beauclerk, 6th Duke of St Albans, in 1811. He died in May 1843, aged 58. His son from his first marriage, George William Coventry, Viscount Deerhurst, had predeceased him and he was succeeded in his titles by his grandson George. Lady Coventry died on 11 September 1845, aged 54.

His granddaughter, Mary Augusta Henrietta Coventry, married John Turner Hopwood. His great-granddaughter, Geraldine Sarah Ponsonby, married Dermot Bourke, 7th Earl of Mayo.