Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Carnarvon

Colonel Henry George Herbert, 2nd Earl of Carnarvon, FSA (3 June 1772 – 16 April 1833), styled The Honourable Henry Herbert from 1780 to 1793 and Lord Porchester from 1793 to 1811, was a British military officer and Whig politician.

Background and education Born in Hill Street in London, Herbert was the oldest son of Henry Herbert, 1st Earl of Carnarvon, He was baptised in St George's, Hanover Square on 22 June 1772. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel four years later and obtained colonelcy of the regiment in 1803. After the Act of Union 1801 he represented the constituency then in the Parliament of the United Kingdom until 1811, when he succeeded his father as earl. Herbert was nominated a Deputy Lieutenant for the county of Somerset in 1803 and served as High Steward of Newbury. She was the only daughter and eventual heiress of Col. John Dyke Acland (1747–1778), son and heir apparent of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 7th Baronet (1722–1785) of Killerton, Devon, and Petherton Park in Somerset, who acquired Pixton Park, Tetton, Kingston St Mary, and Holnicote, Setworthy by his marriage to the heiress Elizabeth Dyke (d.1753). Her brother was Sir John Dyke Acland, 8th Baronet, who died aged 7.

Lady Harriet Elizabeth Herbert (b. 1797), who married Rev. J. C. Stapylton. Henry John George Herbert, 3rd Earl of Carnarvon (1800–1849), who married Henrietta Anna Howard-Molyneux-Howard, eldest daughter of Lord Henry Howard-Molyneux-Howard Hon. Edward Charles Hugh Herbert (1802–1852), who married Elizabeth Sweet-Escott, daughter of Prebendary Thomas Sweet-Escott. They had two sons. Lady Theresa Elizabeth Mary Herbert (1803–1815) Lady Emily Frances Theresa Herbert (d. 1854), who married Philip Bouverie-Pusey, paternal grandson of Jacob des Bouverie, 1st Viscount Folkestone and maternal grandson of Robert Sherard, 4th Earl of Harborough. They had one son, and two daughters.

Death and burial He died, aged 60, at his London residence in Grosvenor Square and was buried at Burghclere in Hampshire.

Porchester's Post

The westernmost boundary of the historic estate of Pixton Park in Somerset is marked by "Porchester's Post", a 10-foot high oak obelisk first erected in 1796 for that purpose, by the 2nd Earl of Carnarvon, of Highclere Castle in Hampshire, husband of Elizabeth "Kitty" Acland, heiress of Pixton, whom he had married that year. He was then aged 24 and until his father's death in 1811 was known by his courtesy title of Lord Porchester. It is located high up on Exmoor between Withypool Hill and Halscombe Allotment (grid reference SS 828 334), north-west of Pixton Park. It was renewed and re-erected in 2002 by the Exmoor National Park Authority. A brass plaque attached to it is inscribed as follows: "First erected in 1796 to mark the boundary of the Carnarvon Estate. Re-erected in memory of Lord Porchester, Earl of Carnarvon, the Chairman of the 1977 inquiry into the protection of moorland on Exmoor and to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2002".