Francis (Greville), 1st Earl of Warwick

1719 - 1773  (53 years)

• Name	Francis (Greville)  [1]
  Suffix	1st Earl of Warwick
  Born	10 Oct. 1719  [1]
  Gender	Male
  Hereditary Title	From 28 July 1727 to 6 July 1773  [1]
  	8th Baron Brooke of Beauchamps Court, co. Warwick [E., 1621]
  Office	From 1741 to 6 July 1773  [1]
  	Recorder of Warwick
  Hereditary Title	From 7 July 1746 to 6 July 1773  [1]
  	1st Earl Brooke of Warwick Castle [G.B., 1746]
  Decoration	29 March 1753  [1]
  	Knight of the Order of the Thistle (K.T.)
  Hereditary Title	From 13 Nov. 1759 to 6 July 1773  [1]
  	1st Earl of Warwick [G.B., 1759]
  	On 2 April 1760 he had a grant of "the crest anciently used by the Earls of Warwick," for himself "and his lawful descendants, being Earls of Warwick"—viz. a bear erect Argent, muzzled Gules, supporting a ragged staff of the first. His motto (not inappropriate for one who by Royal grant and not by descent from the old Earls of Warwick enjoyed not only their lands but their cognizance) was "Vix ea nostra voco." J. Horace Round remarks that the grant is based on the precedent of a similar one to the Dudley Earls of Warwick, by whom the well known Bear and Ragged Staff was borne as a crest; and calls attention to the fact that the "Bear and Ragged Staff was not the Crest of the Beauchamp Earls of Warwick (which was entirely different) but their Badge and the Supporter of their coat of Arms." With respect, however, to Ambrose (Dudley), Earl of Warwick, the case seems very different, as he was not only a descendant, but the senior representative of Richard (Beauchamp), Earl of Warwick, and was actually in remainder to the Earldom of Warwick, granted, in 1450, to (Richard Nevill) the said Earl Richard's son-in-law. It is to be observed that the crest of Beauchamp (viz. the demi swan, issuing out of a crest coronet) was early adopted, in lieu of that of Greville, by the Lords Brooke. On 3 February 1767 he presented a petition to the House of Lords that he and his heirs should be enabled to use the title of Earl of Warwick only, with the rank of the patent of 7 July 1746, viz. that which conferred the Earldom of Brooke of Warwick Castle. (See Lords' Journals. No further proceedings appear to have been taken in the matter of this (not unreasonable) petition, though the granting thereof would remedy the anomaly of the family styling themselves "Earls of Warwick" (only) whilst taking precedence as "Earls Brooke.")
  Occupation	Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (F.S.A.)  [2]
  Probate	July 1773  [2]
  Died	6 July 1773	Warwick Castle, Warwick, Warwickshire, England   [2]
  Person ID	I2674	British Peerage & Gentry
  Last Modified	24 July 2021

  
  

  Father	William (Greville), 7th Baron Brooke of Beauchamps Court,   b. circa 1694,   d. 28 July 1727, Poland Street, London, Middlesex, England  (Age ~ 33 years)
  Mother	Mary Thynne,   b. circa 1701,   d. 29 March 1720  (Age ~ 19 years)
  Married	8 Nov. 1716	Leweston chapel, Leweston, Dorset, England   [1]
  Family ID	F1331	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Heraldry

  Arms of Greville quartering Willoughby and Beauchamp (Earl of Warwick, etc.) Quarterly, 1st and 4th, Sable on a cross engrailed Or, five pellets, a bordure engrailed of the second (GREVILLE); 2nd, Or, fretty Azure (WILLOUGHBY); 3rd, Gules a fess between six crosses crosslet Or (BEAUCHAMP). Source: Burke's General Armory (London: Harrison, 1884), page 427.

  
  

• Notes

  In the reign of George III, he acted with the Tories in the House of Lords. [1]

  
  

• Sources

  [S22] The Complete Peerage, G. E. Cokayne, with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden (eds.), (Alan Sutton Publishing, 1910–59; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, 2000), volume II, page 335. [S22] The Complete Peerage, G. E. Cokayne, with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden (eds.), (Alan Sutton Publishing, 1910–59; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, 2000), volume II, page 336.