page_title: John Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough
section_title: Background and education
hierarchical_section_title: John Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough / Background and education
caption_attribution_description: English: Henrietta (generally called Harriet), Viscountess Duncannon (later Countess of Bessborough) and her two sons, Frederick and John Ponsonby (later the 4th Earl of Bessborough).
context_page_description: John William Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough, PC, known as Viscount Duncannon from 1793 to 1844, was a British Whig politician. He was notably Home Secretary in 1834 and served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland between 1846 and 1847, the first years of the Great Famine.
context_section_description: A member of the prominent Ponsonby family of Cumberland, he was the eldest son of Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough, and Lady Henrietta Frances, daughter of John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer. Sir Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby and William Ponsonby, 1st Baron de Mauley, were his younger brothers, while Lady Caroline Lamb was his younger sister. Ponsonby's mother was Lord Granville's lover prior to his marriage to Lady Harriet Cavendish, the Countess of Bessborough's niece. Lord Granville fathered two illegitimate children through her: Harriette Stewart and George Stewart. Lord Bessborough was educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford.
caption: Henrietta Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough with her sons William and John by John Hoppner (1787)
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