Walter Ponsonby, 7th Earl of Bessborough
Walter William Brabazon Ponsonby, 7th Earl of Bessborough, was a British peer and member of the House of Lords. He was the fifth son of John Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough, and his wife Lady Maria Fane. He inherited the earldom on 11 March 1895 when his elder brother Frederick Ponsonby, 6th Earl of Bessborough, died unmarried and without a male heir.Education and career
He was educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge. Between 1846 and 1894 he acted as Rector for the parishes of Canford Magna, Wiltshire; Beer Ferris, Devon; Marston Bigot, Somerset; and Stutton, Suffolk.Family
On 15 January 1850 he married Lady Louisa Susan Cornwallis Eliot, daughter of Edward Granville Eliot, 3rd Earl of St Germans, and his wife Lady Jemima Cornwallis. Together they had eight children:
- Edward Ponsonby, 8th Earl of Bessborough
- Maria Ponsonby
- Cyril Walter Ponsonby - married Emily H Eyre Addington
- Granville Ponsonby - married Mabel Jackson
- Arthur Cornwallis Ponsonby - married Kathleen Eva Sillery
- Ethel Jemima Ponsonby - married George Somerset, 3rd Baron Raglan
- Walter Gerald Ponsonby
- Sara Kathleen Ponsonby - married Maj Charles Lancelot Andrews Skinner
