John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower
John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower, (10 August 1694 – 25 December 1754), known as The Baron Gower from 1709 to 1746, was a British Tory politician from the Leveson-Gower family, one of the first Tories to enter government after the Hanoverian Succession. Background. Gower was a son of John Leveson-Gower, 1st Baron Gower (7 January 1675 – 31 August 1709), and his wife Lady Catherine Manners (19 May 1675 – 7 March 1722). His maternal grandparents were John Manners, 1st Duke of Rutland and Catherine Wriothesley Noel, daughter of Baptist Noel, 3rd Viscount Campden . He was educated at Adams' Grammar School and Westminster School before entering Christ Church, Oxford, in 1710. Around 1730, Gower erected the first Trentham Hall based on the designs of Buckingham House (Buckingham Palace). He was awarded degree as D.C.L. from the latter university in 1732. Political career. Gower became a founding Governor of London's Foundling Hospital in 1739. He then served as Lord Privy Seal between 1742 and 1743 and between 1744 and 1754. He was a prominent Tory politician, being the first major Tory to enter government after the accession of King George I, when he joined  the administration of John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, in 1742. He was also appointed to the Privy Council in 1742, and he was created Viscount Trentham, of Trentham in the County of Stafford, and Earl Gower on 8 July 1746. Family. Gower married firstly, 13 March 1711 or 1712, Lady Evelyn Pierrepont (6 September 1691 – 26 June 1729), daughter of Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull, and his first wife Lady Mary Feilding. Mary was a daughter of William Feilding, 3rd Earl of Denbigh and his wife Mary King. By his first wife, the earl had eleven children : Gower married, secondly, on 31 October 1733, Penelope Stonhouse (d. 19 August 1734), daughter of Sir John Stonhouse, 3rd Baronet, and had issue: Gower married, thirdly, on 16 May 1736, Lady Mary Tufton, Dowager Countess of Harold, daughter of Thomas Tufton, 6th Earl of Thanet, and widow of Anthony Grey, Earl of Harold, and had issue: