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- Frederick Spencer, fourth Earl Spencer (1798–1857), naval officer, born on 14 April 1798, entered the navy on 18 September 1811. After serving as lieutenant under his brother in the Owen Glendower, Spencer commanded the brig Alacrity on the South American station. After promotion to captain on 26 August 1826, he was appointed to the frigate Talbot; he commanded her with distinction at the battle of Navarino on 20 October 1827, and in subsequent operations on the coast of the Morea. For these services he was made a CB (13 November 1827) and was decorated by the kings of France and Greece, and by the tsar. On 23 February 1830 he married his second cousin, Elizabeth Georgina (d. 10 April 1851), daughter of William Stephen Poyntz MP, of Cowdray Park, Midhurst. They had three children; the only son, John Poyntz Spencer, later became the fifth Earl Spencer.
In 1831 Spencer was MP for Worcestershire, and afterwards for Midhurst (between 1832 and 1834, and 1837 and 1841). On the death of his eldest brother, he succeeded as fourth Earl Spencer, on 1 October 1845. From 1846 to 1848 he was lord chamberlain of the queen's household; he was made a KG on 23 March 1849, and in 1854 was appointed lord steward. On 9 August 1854 he married Adelaide Horatia Elizabeth (d. 29 Oct 1877), daughter of Sir Horace Beauchamp Seymour. They had two children: Charles Robert became in 1910 the sixth Earl Spencer. A lifelong whig, Spencer was regarded by his children as a serious and reserved man. He died a vice-admiral on the retired list on 27 December 1857. [2]
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