(1747 - 86), 1st surv. s. of 1st E. of Northington; educ. Westminster and Ch.Ch. Oxf.1763; MP 1768 - 72; sty. Ld. Henley 1764 - 72 when suc. fa. as 2nd E.; KT 1773; FSA 1777; unm.
1771 - 2 Florence (Aug. 1771; May 1772)
1785 - 6 Florence (by 24 Nov. 1785), Rome (by 30 Dec. 1785 - Jun. 1786) with visit to Naples [Paris, by 5 Jul. 1786]
Not a weak man (according to Horace Walpole) but never noted for sense, he was first in Italy in 1771 - 2 as Lord Henley. He was probably the 'Enley' who arrived in Florence late in August 1771, the year before he succeeded his father. In April 1772 he was in Florence attending a concert given for the Duke of Gloucester.1
He returned to Italy in 1785 in poor health, with John Willett Payne (DNB). In November 1785 he was in Florence with Willett,2 and in December he was in Rome.3 Willett was received by Cardinal York (DNB) and Northington met the 4th Earl of Bristol. Their paths crossed again in Naples soon after; when Northington saw him lying ill, he exclaimed 'There is the Bishop! when I was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, I had the warrant in my pocket to arrest him for his seditious conduct'.4 In March 1786 Northington was said to have been laid up in Rome with gout for three months, 'the climate disagreeing with him very much'.5 In June 1786 Horace Mann confirmed that Northington 'has long been confined by the gout at Rome'.6 Northington died on his way home in Paris on 5 July, aged 39.
1. Gazz.Tosc. (31 Aug. 1771, 2 May 1772). 2. Pembroke Papers, 2:292. Wal.Corr., 25:618n1. 3. Add.35535, f.331 (Davis, 30 Dec. 1785). Childe-Pemberton, 2:393. 4. Childe-Pemberton, 2:395. 5. Add.35536, f.130 (Bulkeley, 8 Mar. 1786). 6. Wal.Corr., 25:652.