Background
Richard Grosvenor was born at Eaton Hall, Cheshire, the elder son of Sir Robert Grosvenor, 6th Baronet. He succeeded as 7th baronet on the death of his father in 1755.
Richard Grosvenor was born at Eaton Hall, Cheshire, the elder son of Sir Robert Grosvenor, 6th Baronet. He succeeded as 7th baronet on the death of his father in 1755.
He was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, graduating Master of Arts in 1751 and Data Control Language in 1754.
He was created Baron Grosvenor in 1761 and in 1784 became both Viscount Belgrave and Earl Grosvenor. Initially Grosvenor was, like his father, a Tory, but later he came to support the ideas of William Pitt the elder. In 1758 he declared himself in favour of the Pitt-Newcastle coalition and following this he was created Baron Grosvenor in 1761.
However when the Tory Earl of Bute became Prime Minister the following year, Grosvenor changed his allegiance.
Then, when Pitt was returned to power in the Chatham Ministry of 1766-1768, Grosvenor returned to support him. During the 1770s he supported Lord North during the American War of Independence.
He voted against Fox"s India Bill in 1783 and was rewarded by William Pitt the Younger with title of Earl Grosvenor the following year. Otherwise Grosvenor was interested in the acquisition of art and in horse racing.
He was also the principal patron of the satirist and journalist William Gifford.
Foreign his art collection he acquired works from Italy, and also bought paintings from Benjamin West (including his painting of The of General Wolfe), Thomas Gainsborough, Richard Wilson and George Stubbs. In 1788 a collection of literary pieces composed at Eaton was published as The Eaton Chronicle, or The Salt-Box. Grosvenor was appointed as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1777.
To breed his race horses Grosvenor established studs at Wallasey and at Eaton.
In the 1760s, Grosvenor occupied Aubrey House, in the Campden Hill area of Holland Park. A London County Council blue plaque commemorates Grosvenor and other residents of the house.
Grosvenor died at Earls Court in 1802 and was buried in the family vault at Street Mary"s Church, Eccleston. His assets amounted to "under £70,000" (£5,580,000 in 2016), but his debts were "over £100,000" (£7,970,000 in 2016).
Royal Society; 11th Parliament of Great Britain.