Henry Reynolds-Moreton, 2nd Earl of Ducie

Henry George Francis Reynolds-Moreton, 2nd Earl of Ducie (8 May 1802-2 June 1853), styled the Hon. Henry Reynolds-Moreton from 1808 to 1837 and the Lord Moreton from 1837 to 1840, was a British Whig politician, agriculturalist and cattle breeder.

Ducie was the son of Thomas Reynolds-Moreton, 1st Earl of Ducie, and his wife Lady Frances, daughter of Henry Herbert, 1st Earl of Carnarvon, and was educated at Eton. He entered Parliament for Gloucestershire in 1831, a seat he held until the following year when the constituency was abolished, and then represented Gloucestershire East until 1835. After entering the House of Lords on the death of his father in 1840 he served in the Whig administration of Lord John Russell as a Lord-in-Waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) from 1846 to 1847, when he resigned. In Parliament he gained a reputation as an advocate of free trade. Despite his political career Ducie is best remembered as a leading agriculturalist and as a breeder of shorthorns. From 1851 to 1852 he was President of the Royal Agricultural Society. The sale of his famous shorthorns shortly after his death in 1853 generated £9,000. The "Ducie cultivator" usually ascribed to him is in fact believed to have been invented by the managers of his ironworks at Uley.

Lord Ducie married the Hon. Elizabeth, daughter of John Dutton, 2nd Baron Sherborne, in 1826. They had eleven sons and four daughters. He died in June 1853, aged 51, and was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest son Henry. The Countess of Ducie died in 1865.

References

* Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). "Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage" (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
* [http://www.angeltowns.com/town/peerage/ Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page]
* [http://www.thepeerage.com/ www.thepeerage.com]
*Stephen, Sir Leslie; Lee Sir Sidney (editors). "The Dictionary of National Biography. From the Earliest Times to 1900. Volume XIII: Masquerier-Myles". Oxford University Press.