George Edgcumbe, 1st Earl of Mount Edgcumbe

Admiral of the White George Edgcumbe, 1st Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, PC (3 March 1720 – 4 February 1795) was a Royal Navy officer and politician who served in the War of the Austrian Succession and Seven Years' War.

Early life Edgcumbe was the second surviving son of Richard Edgcumbe, 1st Baron Edgcumbe and his wife Matilda, the only child of Sir Henry Furnese. He is thought to have been educated at Eton. About this time Edgcumbe was painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds and Salisbury appears in the background.

In 1751, he was promoted to commodore and went to the Mediterranean as the commanding officer of , and the following year in the 50-gun . He was still in her and with his small squadron at Menorca, when the French invaded the island on 19 April 1756. He hastily landed the marines and as many of the seamen as could be spared, and sailed the next day for Gibraltar before the French had taken any measures to block the harbour. At Gibraltar, he was joined by Admiral of the Blue John Byng, by whom he was ordered to move into the 66-gun . In the Battle of Minorca, on 20 May Lancaster was one of the ships in the van, under Rear-Admiral Temple West, which did get into action, and being unsupported suffered severely.

In 1758, still captaining Lancaster, he was in the fleet under Edward Boscawen at the siege of Louisbourg. On his return to England, with the despatches announcing this success, he was appointed to the 74-gun , in which he took part in the blockade of Brest during the long summer of 1759, and in the crowning Battle of Quiberon Bay on 20 November 1759. He continued in Hero, attached to the grand fleet under Hawke or Boscawen, until the death of his brother Richard on 10 May 1761, when he inherited his brother's barony, and succeeded him to Mount Edgcumbe House and as Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall. He was promoted to Rear-Admiral of the Blue on 21 October 1762, Rear-Admiral of the Red on 18 October 1770 and Vice-Admiral of the Blue on 24 October, Vice-Admiral of the White on 31 March 1775 and Vice-Admiral of the Red on 7 December, Admiral of the Blue on 29 January 1778 and Admiral of the White on 8 April 1782. In 1789, he was granted the further title of Earl of Mount Edgcumbe.

Personal life On 16 August 1761, he had married Emma Gilbert, the only daughter of John Gilbert, Archbishop of York, and a first cousin of Robert Sherard, 4th Earl of Harborough. and they had one child:

Legacy

In English folklore, Emma has been identified as the subject of the story of the "Lady with the Ring". Lady Emma's Cottage on the Mount Edgcumbe estate is named after her. A manuscript journal, kept by Edgcumbe and Captain William Marsh, from 30 April 1742 to 1 June 1744, is in the Bodleian Library. A letter from Edgcumbe to Garrick is printed in the latter's 'Private Correspondence'. The town of Edgecomb, Maine was named for George Edgcumbe due to his support of the colonists during the American Revolution.