Biography of George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton 1664-1727

In 1647 [his father] James Compton 3rd Earl of Northampton [aged 24] and [his step-mother] Isabella Sackville Countess Northampton [aged 24] were married. She by marriage Countess of Northampton. She the daughter of Richard Sackville 3rd Earl Dorset and Anne Clifford Countess Dorset and Pembroke [aged 56]. He the son of [his grandfather] Spencer Compton 2nd Earl of Northampton and [his grandmother] Mary Beaumont Countess of Northampton [aged 43]. They were half fourth cousins.

After 1647 [his father] James Compton 3rd Earl of Northampton [aged 24] and [his mother] Mary Noel Countess Northampton were married. She by marriage Countess of Northampton. He the son of [his grandfather] Spencer Compton 2nd Earl of Northampton and [his grandmother] Mary Beaumont Countess of Northampton [aged 43].

On 18th October 1664 George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton was born to [his father] James Compton 3rd Earl of Northampton [aged 42] and [his mother] Mary Noel Countess Northampton.

John Evelyn's Diary. 6th September 1680. [his future father-in-law] He is generous, and lives very honourably, of a sweet nature, well-spoken, well-bred, and is so highly in his Majesty's [aged 50] esteem, and so useful, that being long since made a knight, he is also advanced to be one of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, and has the reversion of the Cofferer's place after Harry Brouncker [aged 53]. He has married his [his future wife] eldest daughter [aged 11] to my Lord Cornwallis [aged 15], and gave her £12,000, and restored that entangled family besides. He matched his son to Mrs. Trollop [aged 19], who brings with her (besides a great sum) near, if not altogether, £2,000 per annum. Sir Stephen's [his future mother-in-law] lady (an excellent woman) is sister to Mr. Whittle [aged 49], one of the King's chirurgeons. In a word, never was man more fortunate than Sir Stephen; he is a handsome person, virtuous, and very religious.

On 15th December 1681 [his father] James Compton 3rd Earl of Northampton [aged 59] died. His son George [aged 17] succeeded 4th Earl of Northampton, 5th Baron Compton of Compton in Warwickshire.

On 7th March 1685 [his brother-in-law] Charles Sackville 6th Earl Dorset 1st Earl Middlesex [aged 42] and [his sister] Mary Compton Countess Dorset and Middlesex [aged 16] were married. She by marriage Countess Dorset, Countess Middlesex. The difference in their ages was 25 years. She the daughter of [his father] James Compton 3rd Earl of Northampton and [his mother] Mary Noel Countess Northampton. He the son of Richard Sackville 5th Earl Dorset and Frances Cranfield Countess Dorset [aged 63]. They were half sixth cousins.

In 1686 George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton [aged 21] and Jane Fox Countess Northampton [aged 17] were married. He the son of James Compton 3rd Earl of Northampton and Mary Noel Countess Northampton.

On 2nd May 1687 [his son] James Compton 5th Earl of Northampton was born to George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton [aged 22] and [his wife] Jane Fox Countess Northampton [aged 18]. He married 1716 Elizabeth Shirley Countess Northampton and had issue.

John Evelyn's Diary. 18th August 1688. My lady [aged 42] carried us to see Lord Northampton's [aged 23] Seat, a very strong, large house, built with stone, not altogether modern. They were enlarging the garden, in which was nothing extraordinary, except the iron gate opening into the park, which indeed was very good work, wrought in flowers painted with blue and gilded. There is a noble walk of elms toward the front of the house by the bowling green. I was not in any room of the house besides a lobby looking into the garden, where my Lord and his new [his wife] Countess [aged 19] (Sir [his father-in-law] Stephen Fox's [aged 61] daughter, whom I had known from a child) entertained the Countess and her daughter the Countess of Arran [aged 21] (newly married to the son [aged 30] of the Duke of Hamilton [aged 53]), with so little good grace, and so dully, that our visit was very short, and so we returned to Althorpe [Map], twelve miles distant.

On 6th August 1691 [his sister] Mary Compton Countess Dorset and Middlesex [aged 22] died of smallpox.

In 1692 [his son] George Compton 6th Earl of Northampton was born to George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton [aged 27] and [his wife] Jane Fox Countess Northampton [aged 23].

After 1692 [his son] Charles Compton was born to George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton [aged 27] and [his wife] Jane Fox Countess Northampton [aged 23]. He married Mary Lucy, daughter of Berkeley Lucy 3rd Baronet and Catherine Cotton, and had issue.

In 1702 George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton [aged 37] was appointed Privy Council.

In 1713 George Thorold 1st Baronet [aged 47] and [his future wife] Elizabeth Rushout Countess Northampton were married.

In 1716 James Compton 5th Earl of Northampton [aged 28] and Elizabeth Shirley Countess Northampton [aged 21] were married. She by marriage Baroness Compton of Compton in Warwickshire. He by marriage Baron Ferrers of Chartley. He the son of George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton [aged 51] and Jane Fox Countess Northampton [aged 47].

On 10th June 1721 [his wife] Jane Fox Countess Northampton [aged 52] died.

On 3rd July 1726 George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton [aged 61] and Elizabeth Rushout Countess Northampton were married. She by marriage Countess of Northampton. He the son of James Compton 3rd Earl of Northampton and Mary Noel Countess Northampton.

On 15th April 1727 George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton [aged 62] died. His son James [aged 39] succeeded 5th Earl of Northampton. Elizabeth Shirley Countess Northampton [aged 32] by marriage Countess of Northampton.

On 15th January 1750 [his former wife] Elizabeth Rushout Countess Northampton died. She was buried in Blockley, Gloucestershire.

Around 1758 Pompeo Batoni [aged 49]. Portrait of George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton.

[his daughter] Anne Compton Lady Rushout was born to George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton and Jane Fox Countess Northampton. She married 1729 John Rushout 4th Baronet, son of James Rushout 1st Baronet and Alice Pitt Lady Rushout, and had issue.

[his daughter] Mary Compton was born to George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton and Jane Fox Countess Northampton. She married before 1739 William Gore, son of William Gore, and had issue.