| Honorific Prefix: | His Grace |
| The Duke of Leeds | |
| Birthname: | George Godolphin Osborne |
| Birth Date: | 16 July 1802 |
| Birth Place: | Gog Magog Hills, Cambridgeshire, England |
| Death Place: | Gog Magog Hills, Cambridgeshire, England |
| Resting Place: | All Hallows Church, Harthill, South Yorkshire |
| Children: | George Osborne, 9th Duke of Leeds Rev. Lord Francis Osborne Lady Susan Milbank Maj. Lord D'Arcy Osborne Lord William Osborne Lady Emma Osborne Lady Charlotte Osborne Lady Blanche Morris |
| Parents: | Francis Osborne, 1st Baron Godolphin Hon. Elizabeth Eden |
George Godolphin Osborne, 8th Duke of Leeds (16 July 1802 – 8 August 1872) was a British peer. He was known as Baron Godolphin from 1850 until 1859, when he inherited the dukedom.
Lord Leeds was born at Gogmagog Hills, Cambridgeshire, the eldest son of Lord Francis Osborne and his wife, The Hon. Elizabeth Eden.[1] Lord Leeds's father, Lord Francis, was the second son and youngest child of Francis Osborne, 5th Duke of Leeds, and his wife, the former Lady Amelia Darcy.[2] Lord Leeds's mother was the daughter of William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland.
In 1832, his father was created Baron Godolphin,[3] upon which George became known as The Hon. George Osborne.[1] When the 1st Baron Godolphin died in 1850, George succeeded his father and became the 2nd Baron Godolphin of Farnham Royal co. Buckingham.[1] [3] Nine years later, George's first cousin, the 7th Duke of Leeds, died without issue; George therefore inherited the Dukedom of Leeds, thus becoming styled His Grace The Duke of Leeds. With the Dukedom of Leeds, George also inherited the titles Earl of Danby co. York, Viscount Osborne of Dunblane, 4 May 1859, Baron Osborne of Kiveton co. York, Marquess of Carmarthen, Viscount Latimer of Danby co. York, and Baronet Osborne of Kiveton co. York.Although the dukedom had passed to George, the Baronies of Conyers and Darcy de Knayth and the Portuguese countship of Mértola were passed to his cousin Sackville Lane-Fox. Lane-Fox was the son of George's father's elder sister, Mary Pelham, Countess of Chichester; and as those peerages allowed for succession in the female line, they passed to Lane-Fox.[3] The Godolphin barony and the dukedom remained united until the death of the last Duke of Leeds in 1964, when both titles became extinct.[3]
On 21 October 1824, he married Harriet Emma Arundel Stewart at the British Embassy in Paris.[1] She was an illegitimate daughter of Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Granville, by Lady Henrietta Frances Spencer, wife of the 3rd Earl of Bessborough. Harriet Stewart was thus a maternal half-sister of Lady Caroline Lamb.
With Harriet Stewart, he had eight children:[4]
The 8th Duke of Leeds died on 8 August 1872 at the age of 70 at Gog Magog Hills, Cambridgeshire, England.[1] He was buried in the Osborne family chapel at All Hallows Church, Harthill, South Yorkshire.[1]