John Stewart, 7th Earl of Galloway


John Stewart, 7th Earl of Galloway was a Scottish peer, styled Viscount Garlies from 1747 until 1773, who became the 7th Earl of Galloway in 1773 and who served as a Member of Parliament from 1761 to 1773.

Early life

John Stewart was the eldest son and second child of Alexander Stewart, 6th Earl of Galloway and his, second wife, Lady Catherine Cochrane. His older sister, Lady Susanna Stewart, married Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford. His other siblings included Admiral the Honourable Keith Stewart of Glasserton, Lady Margaret Stewart, Lady Charlotte Stewart who married John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, Lady Catherine Stewart, and Lady Harriet Stewart who married Archibald Hamilton, 9th Duke of Hamilton.
His paternal grandparents were James Stewart, 5th Earl of Galloway and Catherine, a daughter of Alexander Montgomerie, 9th Earl of Eglinton. His mother was the youngest daughter of the John Cochrane, 4th Earl of Dundonald.

Career

He was elected one of the representative peers, representing the Peerage of Scotland in the House of Lords, in 1774 and sat there until the 1790s. From 1783 until his death he was a Lord of the Bedchamber to King George III.
The Earl, a Tory, was the target of two hostile poems by Robert Burns, John Bushby's Lamentation and On the Earl of Galloway.
Galloway, a frequent opera-goer, was caricatured by James Gillray in An Old Encore at the Opera! of 1803. In 1762, James Boswell wrote of him that he had "a petulant forwardness that cannot fail to disgust people of sense and delicacy".
Besides being a Member of Parliament, Lord Galloway was a Lord of Police from 1768 to 1782, a Representative Peer for Scotland from 1774 to 1790, a Knight of the Thistle, and a Lord of the Bedchamber from 1784 to 1806.
He succeeded his father Alexander in 1773.

Art patronage

The Earl of Galloway was painted in a miniature by Nathaniel Hone the Elder, as well as a full portrait by Anton Raphael Mengs in 1758 when he was Viscount Garlies, which is currently located at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
His second wife, Anne Dashwood, had a portrait painted of her by Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1764. The portrait of Anne is currently located at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Lady Galloway, along with their daughter Susan Stewart, later Duchess of Marlborough, was also painted by Angelica Kauffmann.

Personal life

On 14 August 1762, he married Lady Charlotte Greville, the daughter of Francis Greville, 1st Earl of Warwick. They had two sons, both of whom died in infancy.
After his first wife's early death, he remarried to Anne Dashwood, daughter of Sir James Dashwood, 2nd Baronet, on 13 June 1764. Together, John and Anne were the parents of sixteen children:
Lord Galloway died on 13 November 1806 and was succeeded in his titles by his eldest surviving son, the Admiral George Stewart, 8th Earl of Galloway, who married Lady Jane Paget, the daughter of Henry Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge, and sister of Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey.

Descendants

His grandson, George Spencer-Churchill, was the 6th Duke of Marlborough, and his brother was Lord Charles Spencer-Churchill. Through his grandson, he was the 3x great grandfather of Winston Churchill.
His grandson, Randolph Stewart, was the 9th Earl of Galloway and served as Lord Lieutenant of Kirkcudbright from 1828 to 1845 and was MP for Cockermouth from 1826 to 1831. He married Lady Harriet Blanche Somerset, daughter of Henry Somerset, 6th Duke of Beaufort.
His grandson, George Rushout, was the 3rd Baron Northwick and served as MP for Evesham from 1837 to 1841 and MP for Worcestershire East from 1847 to 1859. He married the Hon. Elizabeth Augusta, daughter of William Bateman-Hanbury, 1st Baron Bateman and widow of George Drought Warburton, in 1869.
His granddaughter, Sophia Bligh, married to Henry William Parnell in 1835, the son of Henry Parnell, 1st Baron Congleton, who was a great uncle of Charles Stewart Parnell. Henry W. Parnell's sister, Emma Jane Parnell, was married to Edward Bligh, 5th Earl of Darnley.