John Gathorne-Hardy, 2nd Earl of Cranbrook

Who was John Gathorne-Hardy, 2nd Earl of Cranbrook?

John Stewart Gathorne-Hardy, 2nd Earl of Cranbrook, known as Lord Medway from 1892 to 1906, was a British peer and Conservative Member of Parliament.

Born John Stewart Hardy, Cranbrook was the eldest son of the Conservative politician Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 1st Earl of Cranbrook, and Jane Orr. He assumed the additional surname of Gathorne by Royal license in 1878 and when his father was made Earl of Cranbrook in 1892, he gained the courtesy title of Lord Medway. Cranbrook was elected to the House of Commons for Rye in 1868, a seat he held until 1880, and later represented Mid Kent from 1884 to 1885 and Medway from 1885 to 1892. In 1906 he succeeded his father as second Earl of Cranbrook and took his seat in the House of Lords.

Lord Cranbrook married Cicely Marguerite Wilhelmina Ridgway, daughter of Joseph Ridgway, in 1867. Their younger son, the Hon. Sir John Francis Gathorne-Hardy, was a general in the army. Their daughter, Lady Dorothy Milner Gathorne-Hardy, married Rupert D'Oyly Carte. Lord Cranbrook died in July 1911, aged 72, and was succeeded by his eldest son Gathorne. Lady Cranbrook died in 1931.