Francis Osborne, 1st Baron Godolphin


Francis Godolphin Osborne, 1st Baron Godolphin, styled Lord Francis Osborne from 1789 to 1832, was a British politician.

Background

Osborne was the second son of Francis Osborne, 5th Duke of Leeds and his wife, Amelia. His grandmother was Lady Mary Godolphin, daughter of the 2nd Earl of Godolphin, who had married the 4th Duke of Leeds.

Political career

Osborne sat as Member of Parliament for Helston between 1799 and 1802, for Lewes between 1802 and 1806 and for Cambridgeshire between 1810 and 1831. On 14 May 1832 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Godolphin, of Farnham Royal in the County of Buckingham.

Family

Lord Godolphin married the Honourable Elizabeth Charlotte Eden, third daughter of William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland, on 31 March 1800. They had five children:
The 8th Duke's surviving siblings, William and Sydney, were granted the rank of a younger son of a duke in 1859, becoming Lord William Osborne and Lord Sydney Osborne respectively. This is because their father, Lord Godolphin, would have inherited the dukedom had he not died in 1850; nine years prior to the death of the 7th Duke of Leeds. On Lord Godolphin's death in 1850, his title of Baron Godolphin passed to his eldest son, George, who became the 2nd Baron Godolphin. George later inherited the dukedom of Leeds from his cousin in 1859.