William Pleydell-Bouverie, 3rd Earl of Radnor


William Pleydell-Bouverie, 3rd Earl of Radnor, styled Viscount Folkestone until 1828, was the son of Jacob Pleydell-Bouverie, 2nd Earl of Radnor and Hon. Anne Duncombe.
He first entered the House of Commons for Downton upon reaching his majority in 1801, switching to Salisbury in 1802. He was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Berkshire on 22 November 1801.
He married, firstly, Lady Catherine Pelham-Clinton, daughter of Henry Pelham-Clinton, Earl of Lincoln, on 2 October 1801 and had two children:
On 31 March 1803, he was commissioned a captain in the Berkshire Regiment of Militia, and a captain in the Berkshire Yeomanry on 14 March 1805. From 9 December 1812 to August 1817, he was lieutenant-colonel of the Berkshire Regiment of Militia.
He married, secondly, Judith Anne St John-Mildmay, daughter of Sir Henry St John-Mildmay, 3rd Baronet on 24 May 1814 and had six children:
On 27 January 1828, he succeeded his father as Earl of Radnor, and on 9 February 1828 as Recorder of Salisbury. Radnor was made a deputy lieutenant of Wiltshire on 9 August 1839 and a vice-lieutenant of the county on 17 August 1839.
In 1828, he built a toll road providing an easy route between Folkestone harbour and Sandgate. The original toll house remains within the Lower Leas Coastal Park. Either side of the toll road, land was cultivated and grazed. Old field boundaries are still used in the park, and the 'Cow Path' is a reminder of the drove route from The Leas.
Radnor served as governor of the French Hospital at the time of its move from Finsbury to the new and imposing hospital building in Victoria Park, Hackney, designed by Robert Lewis Roumieu. Successive Earls of Radnor were governors of the hospital from the eighteenth century to 2015.