George Byng, 8th Viscount Torrington explained

George Stanley Byng, 8th Viscount Torrington (29 April 1841 – 20 October 1889), known as George Byng until 1884, was a British Conservative politician.

Origins

He was the son of Major the Hon. Robert Barlow Palmer Byng (third son of George Byng, 6th Viscount Torrington), by his wife Elizabeth Maria Gwatkin, a daughter of Major-General Edward Gwatkin, a son of Robert Lovell Gwatkin.^[1]

Career

In 1884 he succeeded his uncle George Byng, 7th Viscount Torrington (1812-1884) in the viscountcy. In 1888 his uncle's companion, Andalusia Molesworth died. She left her fortune to Byng as she was estranged from her ex-husband's family.^[2]

Byng served briefly as a Lord-in-waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) from March to October 1889 in the Conservative administration of Lord Salisbury.

Marriages and children

He married twice:

• Firstly in 1882 to Alice Arabella (d. 1883), a daughter of James Jameson.
• Secondly in 1885 to Emmeline Seymour (d. June 1912), a daughter of Rev. Henry Seymour,^[3] by whom he had children including:
  • George Master Byng, 9th Viscount Torrington (1886–1944).

Death and succession

He died in office in October 1889, aged 48, and was succeeded in the viscountcy by his son from his second marriage, George Master Byng, 9th Viscount Torrington (1886–1944).

References

• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,
  • Web site: Lundy . Darryl . FAQ . The Peerage.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Pedigrees of five Devonshire families, Colby, Coplestone, Reynolds, Palmer and Johnson [microform]]. Colby. Frederic Thomas. 1884. Internet Archive. 22–3. 19 June 2016. Exeter. Exeter : Printed for private circulation by W. Pollard.
2. Molesworth [née Carstairs; other married name West], Andalusia Grant, Lady Molesworth (c. 1809–1888), society hostess Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. en. 10.1093/ref:odnb/47908. 2004.
3. Book: Maureen E. Montgomery. 'Gilded Prostitution': Status, Money and Transatlantic Marriages, 1870-1914. 2013. Routledge. 978-1-136-21495-0. 264.