George Byng, 8th Viscount Torrington

George Stanley Byng, 8th Viscount Torrington (29 April 1841 – 20 October 1889), known as George Byng until 1884, was a British Conservative politician.

Origins[edit]

He was the son of Major the Hon. Robert Barlow Palmer Byng (third son of George Byng, 6th Viscount Torrington), by his wife Elizabeth Maria Gwatkin, a daughter of Major-General Edward Gwatkin, a son of Robert Lovell Gwatkin.^[1]

Career[edit]

In 1884 he succeeded his uncle George Byng, 7th Viscount Torrington (1812-1884) in the viscountcy. In 1888 his uncle's companion, Andalusia Molesworth died. She left her fortune to Byng as she was estranged from her ex-husband's family.^[2]

Byng served briefly as a Lord-in-waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) from March to October 1889 in the Conservative administration of Lord Salisbury.

Marriages and children[edit]

He married twice:

Firstly in 1882 to Alice Arabella (d. 1883), a daughter of James Jameson.
Secondly in 1885 to Emmeline Seymour (d. June 1912), a daughter of Rev. Henry Seymour,^[3] by whom he had children including:
- George Master Byng, 9th Viscount Torrington (1886–1944).

Death and succession[edit]

He died in office in October 1889, aged 48, and was succeeded in the viscountcy by his son from his second marriage, George Master Byng, 9th Viscount Torrington (1886–1944).

Notes[edit]

^ Colby, Frederic Thomas (1884). "Pedigrees of five Devonshire families, Colby, Coplestone, Reynolds, Palmer and Johnson [microform]". Internet Archive. Exeter: Exeter : Printed for private circulation by W. Pollard. pp. 22–3. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
^ "Molesworth [née Carstairs; other married name West], Andalusia Grant, Lady Molesworth (c. 1809–1888), society hostess | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/47908. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^ Maureen E. Montgomery (2013). 'Gilded Prostitution': Status, Money and Transatlantic Marriages, 1870-1914. Routledge. p. 264. ISBN 978-1-136-21495-0.

References[edit]

Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, ^{[page needed]}
Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages ^{[self-published source]} ^{[better source needed]}
Lundy, Darryl. "FAQ". The Peerage.^{[unreliable source]}

Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by George Byng	Viscount Torrington 1884–1889	Succeeded by George Master Byng

[1] Colby, Frederic Thomas (1884). "Pedigrees of five Devonshire families, Colby, Coplestone, Reynolds, Palmer and Johnson [microform]". Internet Archive. Exeter: Exeter : Printed for private circulation by W. Pollard. pp. 22–3. Retrieved 19 June 2016.

[2] "Molesworth [née Carstairs; other married name West], Andalusia Grant, Lady Molesworth (c. 1809–1888), society hostess | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/47908. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

[3] Maureen E. Montgomery (2013). 'Gilded Prostitution': Status, Money and Transatlantic Marriages, 1870-1914. Routledge. p. 264. ISBN 978-1-136-21495-0.

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