| Honorific-Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| The Earl of Coventry | |
| Office2: | Master of the Buckhounds |
| Term Start2: | 16 July 1895 |
| Term End2: | 1 November 1900 |
| Monarch2: | Victoria |
| Primeminister2: | The Marquess of Salisbury |
| Predecessor2: | The Lord Ribblesdale |
| Successor2: | The Lord Chesham |
| Term Start3: | 16 August 1886 |
| Term End3: | 25 August 1892 |
| Monarch3: | Victoria |
| Primeminister3: | The Marquess of Salisbury |
| Predecessor3: | The Lord Suffield |
| Successor3: | The Lord Ribblesdale |
| Office4: | Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms |
| Term Start5: | 28 May 1877 |
| Term End5: | 21 April 1880 |
| Monarch5: | Victoria |
| Primeminister5: | The Earl of Beaconsfield |
| Predecessor5: | The Earl of Shrewsbury |
| Successor5: | The Earl Fife |
| Term Start4: | 6 July 1885 |
| Term End4: | 28 January 1886 |
| Monarch4: | Victoria |
| Primeminister4: | The Marquess of Salisbury |
| Predecessor4: | The Lord Carrington |
| Successor4: | The Lord Sudeley |
| Office6: | Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal |
| Term Start6: | 9 May 1859 |
| Term End6: | 13 March 1930 Hereditary Peerage |
| Predecessor6: | 8th Earl of Coventry |
| Successor6: | 10th Earl of Coventry |
| Birth Date: | 9 May 1838 |
| Birth Place: | Wilton Crescent, London |
| Nationality: | British |
| Party: | Conservative |
| Alma Mater: | Christ Church, Oxford |
| Spouse: | Lady Blanche Craven |
George William Coventry, 9th Earl of Coventry, (9 May 1838 – 13 March 1930), styled Viscount Deerhurst from November 1838 until 1843, was a British Conservative politician. He was Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms between 1877 and 1880 and again between 1885 and 1886 as well as Master of the Buckhounds between 1886 and 1892 and again between 1895 and 1901.
Coventry was born on 9 May 1838 at Wilton Crescent, London. He was the son of George William Coventry, Viscount Deerhurst, and the former Harriett Anne Cockerell. His elder sister, Lady Maria Emma Catherine Coventry, was the wife of Hon. Gerald Henry Brabazon Ponsonby (the youngest son of John Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough).[1]
His paternal grandparents were George Coventry, 8th Earl of Coventry and the former Hon. Emma Susanna Lygon (a daughter of William Lygon, 1st Earl Beauchamp). Sir Charles Cockerell, 1st Baronet and the former Hon. Harriet Rushout (a daughter of John Rushout, 1st Baron Northwick).
He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford.
Coventry sat on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords and served as Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms under the Earl of Beaconsfield from 1877 to 1880 and under Lord Salisbury from 1885 to 1886 and under Salisbury as Master of the Buckhounds from 1886 to 1892 and again from 1895 to 1900. In 1877 he was admitted to the Privy Council.
Coventry was also Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire from 1891 to 1903, and was the Honorary Colonel of the 3rd and 4th (Worcestershire Militia) Battalions, Worcestershire Regiment from 1900. He was honoured as Lord High steward of Tewkesbury in December 1901,[2] and received the Honorary Freedom of the borough of Tewkesbury in January 1902.[3] During the First World War the Earl of Coventry, as Lord Lieutenant, was the figurehead of the county war effort. He chaired a number of committees and charities, and was President of the Worcestershire Volunteer Regiment of the Volunteer Training Corps (the WW1 Home Guard).[4] Apart from his political career he was also involved in horseracing. His racing colours were brown with blue cap and were carried to victory in consecutive Grand Nationals by the half-sisters Emblem, 1863, and Emblematic, 1864.[5] In 1899 he was President of the Royal Agricultural Society.
The Earl was also interested in the development of agriculture and maintained a paternalistic attitude toward his tenants. He established a jam factory in order to provide them with a local outlet for their fruit although this proved unable to compete with larger-scale commercial competitors and went into liquidation in 1908.[6]
On 25 January 1865, Lord Coventry married Lady Blanche Craven, daughter of William Craven, 2nd Earl of Craven and the former Lady Emily Mary Grimston (a daughter of James Grimston, 1st Earl of Verulam). Together they had six sons and three daughters:
Lord Coventry died on 13 March 1930, aged 91,[9] and was succeeded in the earldom by his grandson George, the son of George William Coventry, Viscount Deerhurst.[10] Lady Coventry survived her husband by only three days and died on 16 March 1930, aged 87.[11]