Walter Ponsonby, 7th Earl of Bessborough

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Rev. Walter William Brabazon Ponsonby, 7th Earl of Bessborough (13 August 1821 – 24 February 1906) was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat and Anglican priest.

Early life and education

Ponsonby was born in Roehampton, London, the fifth son of John Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough, and his wife Lady Maria Fane. His parents had 14 children before his mother died in 1834. His father died in 1847. He was educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge.

Career

Ordained a priest in the Church of England in 1845, he was, between 1846 and 1894 he acted as Rector for the parishes of Canford Magna, Wiltshire; Beer Ferris, Devon; Marston Bigot, Somerset; and Stutton, Suffolk. Ponsonby inherited the earldom on 11 March 1895 after the deaths of his elder brothers John Ponsonby, 5th Earl of Bessborough (1809–1880) and Frederick Ponsonby, 6th Earl of Bessborough (1815–1895) without male heirs.

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:

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