Francis Greville, 5th Earl of Warwick


Francis Richard Charles Guy Greville, 5th Earl of Warwick, styled Lord Brooke until 1893, was a British Conservative politician.

Early life

Greville was the son of George Greville, 4th Earl of Warwick, and his wife, Lady Anne, daughter of Francis Wemyss-Charteris, 9th Earl of Wemyss, and was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford.
On 28 February 1874, he was appointed a sub-lieutenant in the Warwickshire Yeomanry. Brooke was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Warwickshire on 3 March 1875 and promoted to captain in the Yeomanry on 26 August 1876.

Career

He entered Parliament for Somerset East in an 1879 by-election, a seat he held until 1885, and later represented Colchester from 1888 to 1892. The following year, Greville succeeded his father in the earldom and entered the House of Lords.
In August 1901, he was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Essex, serving as such until 1919. He was appointed deputy lieutenant of the county on 8 July 1919. In November 1901 he was appointed Honorary Colonel of the new Essex Imperial Yeomanry Regiment, and in late 1901 he was elected Mayor of Warwick for the following year.
He was a senior Freemason under the United Grand Lodge of England, and rose to the office of Deputy Grand Master under the Grand Mastership of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII. He was also a member of the Ancient Order of Druids ; in August 1905 he was one of the British aristocrat members of the Order who participated in the first ceremony organized by the AOD at Stonehenge.

Personal life

Lord Warwick married Frances Evelyn Maynard, daughter of the Hon. Charles Henry Maynard, in 1881. They had five children:
The youngest two children were reputedly fathered by one of the countess' lovers, millionaire bachelor Joseph Frederick Laycock.
Francis Greville, 5th Earl of Warwick died in January 1924, aged 70, and is buried in the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick. He was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest son Leopold. The Countess of Warwick died in July 1938, aged 76.