Charles Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer

The Right Honourable
The Earl Spencer
KG GCVO VD PC
The Right Honourable The Earl Spencer KG GCVO VD PC
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Lord Chamberlain of the Household
	In office; Template:En dash range
Monarch	Edward VII ; George V
Prime Minister	Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman ; H. H. Asquith
Preceded by	The Earl of Clarendon
Succeeded by	The Lord Sandhurst
Personal details
Born	Script error: No such module "person date".; St James's, Westminster, London, England
Died	Script error: No such module "person date".; St James Place, Westminster, London, England
Party	Liberal
SpouseScript error: No such module "Detect singular".	Page Template:Marriage/styles.css has no content. The Hon. Margaret Baring (m. 1887; died 1906)Script error: No such module "Parameter validation".
Children	Page Template:Plainlist/styles.css has no content. Lady Adelaide Peel; Albert Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer; The Hon. Cecil Spencer; Lady Lavinia Annaly; The Hon. George Spencer; Lady Margaret Douglas-Home;
ParentScript error: No such module "Detect singular".	Page Template:Plainlist/styles.css has no content. Frederick Spencer, 4th Earl Spencer; Adelaide Seymour;
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

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Charles Robert Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer, KG, GCVO, VD, PC (30 October 1857 – 26 September 1922), styled The Honourable Charles Spencer until 1905 and known as Viscount Althorp between 1905 and 1910, was a British courtier and Liberal politician from the Spencer family. An MP from 1880 to 1895 and again from 1900 to 1905, he served as Vice-Chamberlain of the Household from 1892 to 1895. Raised to the peerage as Viscount Althorp in 1905, he was Lord Chamberlain from 1905 to 1912 in the Liberal administrations headed by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and H. H. Asquith. In 1910, he succeeded his half-brother as Earl Spencer. He was married to Margaret Baring, a member of the Baring family.

Background and education

Known as "Bobby", Spencer was born in St. James's, Westminster,^[1] the son of Frederick Spencer, 4th Earl Spencer, by his second wife Adelaide Seymour, daughter of Horace Beauchamp Seymour and granddaughter of Lord Hugh Seymour. John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer, was his elder half-brother. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge.^[2]

Political career

Spencer represented Northamptonshire North in parliament from 1880 to 1885 and Northamptonshire Mid from 1885 to 1895 and again from 1900 to 1905, from his home at Dallington Hall. In 1898, he contested Hertford.^[3] He was a Groom in Waiting to Queen Victoria between February and June 1886. In 1892, he was sworn of the Privy Council^[4] and appointed Vice-Chamberlain of the Household under William Ewart Gladstone,^[5] a post he held until 1895, the last year under the premiership of Lord Rosebery.^[6] Between 1900 and 1905, he was a Liberal whip.^[7]

On 19 December 1905, Spencer was created Viscount Althorp, of Great Brington in the County of Northampton,^[8] to allow him to become Lord Chamberlain in Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's new Liberal administration. (His older brother was still Earl Spencer at that time, but was 70 years old and childless, and so it was clear that his younger brother would inherit.)^[9] On 13 August 1910, he inherited the earldom on the death of his childless elder brother, John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer. He remained Lord Chamberlain until 1912.^[10] From 1908 to 1922, he was Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire.^[11] He was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order^{[citation needed]} in 1911 and a Knight Companion of the Garter in 1913.^[12] He was also awarded the Volunteer Reserve Decoration.

Lord Spencer held a large number of foreign decorations: the Grand Crosses of Order of the Dannebrog of Denmark, Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav, Order of the Polar Star of Sweden, Order of the Rising Sun of Japan, the White Eagle of Serbia, Order of the Red Eagle of Prussia and Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Carlos III. He was also an honorary major in^[7] and later honorary colonel of the 4th Volunteer Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment.^[11]

Family

Lord Spencer married the Hon. Margaret Baring (14 December 1868 – 4 July 1906), daughter of Edward Baring, 1st Baron Revelstoke and Louisa Emily Charlotte Bulteel, at St James's Church, Piccadilly, on 23 July 1887. They had six children:

Lady Adelaide Margaret "Delia" Spencer (26 June 1889 – 16 January 1981), married Sir Sidney Peel, 1st Baronet.
Albert Edward John Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer (23 May 1892 – 9 June 1975), married in 1919 Lady Cynthia Elinor Beatrix Hamilton (16 August 1897 – 4 December 1972). They had two children. By their son, they became the paternal grandparents of Diana, Princess of Wales.
Lieutenant commander the Hon. Cecil Edward Robert Spencer RN DSC Croix de Guerre (20 May 1894 – 14 February 1928), died unmarried in a riding accident.
Lady Lavinia Emily Spencer^[13] (29 September 1899 – 9 May 1955), married the 4th Baron Annaly and had issue. Lady Annaly was an extra Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother when she was Duchess of York.
Captain the Hon. George Charles Spencer (15 August 1903 – October 1982), married (1) Barbara Blumenthal and had issue, married (2) Kathleen Henderson; no issue.
Lady Alexandra Margaret Elizabeth Spencer (4 July 1906 – 26 May 1996), married the Hon. Henry Douglas-Home (son of the 13th Earl of Home) and had issue. She was the author of A Spencer Childhood, published in 1994.^[14]

Viscountess Althorp died in 1906 shortly after giving birth to their sixth child.^[15]

Death and estate

Lord Spencer died on 26 September 1922 at his home in St James Place, London, aged 64. He had been ill for four months after contracting a "chill" at a public event in his home county, Northamptonshire.^[16] His eldest son Albert succeeded in the earldom. Lord Spencer was buried next to his wife in Saint Mary the Virgin with St John Churchyard, Great Brington, Northamptonshire.

His estate was valued at £1,197,326 for probate, which attracted death duties amounting to approximately £359,197.^[17]

Coat of arms

Coat of arms of Charles Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer
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References

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^ Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901 PRO RG13 Piece 74 Folio 12, p. 16.
^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Spencer, the Hon. Charles Robert, Viscount Althorp (SPNR877CR)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1885 – 1918 (Macmillan Press Ltd., London, 1974) p. 295.
^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.[Script error: No such module "London Gazette util". "No. 26320"]. The London Gazette (Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".). 26 August 1892. p. Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".. {{cite magazine}}: Check |url= value (help); More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help)Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".
^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.[Script error: No such module "London Gazette util". "No. 26321"]. The London Gazette (Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".). 30 August 1892. p. Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".. {{cite magazine}}: Check |url= value (help); More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help)Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".
^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.[Script error: No such module "London Gazette util". "No. 26643"]. The London Gazette (Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".). 12 July 1895. p. Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".. {{cite magazine}}: Check |url= value (help); More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help)Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".
^ ^a ^b Michael Stenton and Stephen Lees, Who's Who of British Members of Parliament (Harvester Press, Sussex, 1978) vol. II, p. 334.
^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.[Script error: No such module "London Gazette util". "No. 27868"]. The London Gazette (Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".). 29 December 1905. p. Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".. {{cite magazine}}: Check |url= value (help); More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help)Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".
^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.[Script error: No such module "London Gazette util". "No. 27866"]. The London Gazette (Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".). 22 December 1905. p. Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".. {{cite magazine}}: Check |url= value (help); More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help)Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".
^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.[Script error: No such module "London Gazette util". "No. 28581"]. The London Gazette (Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".). 16 February 1912. p. Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".. {{cite magazine}}: Check |url= value (help); More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help)Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".
^ ^a ^b George Edward Cokayne, H A Doubleday and Lord Howard de Walden, The Complete Peerage (St Catherine's, London, 1940) vol. XIII, p. 39.
^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.[Script error: No such module "London Gazette util". "No. 28736"]. The London Gazette (Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".). 11 July 1913. p. Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".. {{cite magazine}}: Check |url= value (help); More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help)Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".
^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Lavinia Emily White (née Spencer), Lady Annaly". National Portrait Gallery, London.
^ Charles Mosley (ed.), Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition (Burke's Peerage and Gentry LLC, 2003) vol. III, p. 3695.
^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Obituary: Lady Althorp". The Times. 5 July 1906. p. 12.
^ The Times (London), Wednesday, 27 September 1922, p. 10, col. D.
^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Millionaire Earl who closed his Mansion". Daily Herald. 9 January 1923. p. 2. Retrieved 6 October 2025 – via Newspapers.com.