Henry George Francis Reynolds-Moreton, 2nd Earl of Ducie (8 May 1802 – 2 June 1853), styled the Hon. Henry Reynolds-Moreton from 1808 to 1837 and the Lord Moreton from 1837 to 1840, was a British Whig politician, agriculturalist and cattle breeder.

Early life

Ducie was born on 8 May 1802, the son of Thomas Reynolds-Moreton, 1st Earl of Ducie, and his wife Lady Frances Herbert, daughter of Henry Herbert, 1st Earl of Carnarvon.^[1] He was educated at Eton. Lord Ducie married the Hon. Elizabeth, daughter of John Dutton, 2nd Baron Sherborne, on 29 June 1826.^[1] They had eleven sons and four daughters.

Career

Lord Moreton entered Parliament for Gloucestershire in 1831, a seat he held until the following year when the constituency was abolished, and then represented Gloucestershire East until 1835.^[1] After entering the House of Lords on the death of his father in 1840 he served in the Whig administration of Lord Russell as a Lord-in-waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) from 1846 to 1847, when he resigned. In Parliament he gained a reputation as an advocate of free trade. He supported the repeal of the Corn Laws and, as an agriculturalist, his views were influential.^[1]

Between 1848 and 1853, a new Tortworth Court was built for Ducie, in a Tudor style,^[2] to designs by the architect Samuel Sanders Teulon.^[3]

Despite his political career, Ducie is best remembered as a leading agriculturalist and as a breeder of shorthorns. From 1851 to 1852 he was President of the Royal Agricultural Society.^[1] The sale of his famous shorthorns shortly after his death in 1853 generated £9,000.

He was a prominent member of the Evangelican Alliance.^[1]

Later life

He died on 2 June 1853 at his home, Tortworth Court, Whitfield, Gloucestershire aged 51, and was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest son Henry.^[1] His wife, the Countess of Ducie, died in 1865. As his son Henry died in October 1921 without a living son, the earldom passed to another of Lord Ducie's sons Berkeley who had immigrated to Queensland, Australia.^[4]

Legacy

The "Ducie cultivator" usually ascribed to him^[1] is in fact believed to have been invented by the managers of his ironworks at Uley.

Arms

Coat of arms of Henry Reynolds-Moreton, 2nd Earl of Ducie

Coronet A Coronet of an Earl Crest A Moorcock's Head Or combed and wattled Gules between two Wings displayed Azure Escutcheon Quarterly: 1 and 4th, Argent a Chevron Gules between three Square Buckles Sable (Moreton); 2 and 3rd, Or two Lions passant guardant Gules (Ducie) Supporters On either side a Unicorn Argent armed unguled maned and tufted Or, each gorged with a Ducal Coronet per pale Gold and Gules Motto Perseverando (By persevering)