George Fermor, 2nd Earl of Pomfret

rdf:langString George Fermor, 2nd Earl of Pomfret

rdf:langString George Fermor, 2nd Earl of Pomfret (1722–1785), styled Viscount Leominster or Lempster until 1753, of Easton Neston house, Northamptonshire was Earl of Pomfret in the Peerage of Great Britain. He was the eldest son of Thomas Fermor, 1st Earl of Pomfret and Henrietta Louisa Jeffreys. He entered the British Army in January 1739, as a lieutenant in Pearce's Regiment of Horse. On 11 February 1741/2, he was commissioned an ensign in the 2nd Regiment of Foot Guards. On 30 April 1743, he was promoted captain of a company in the 31st Regiment of Foot. By 1746, Lempster was a captain in Handasyd's Regiment. In December 1750, he lost £12,000 gaming with a Guards ensign. Lempster resigned his commission around January 1751/2. He fought a duel with swords with Captain Thomas Grey, of the Guards at Marylebone Fields, on 24 February 1752. Lempster killed Grey, and was convicted of manslaughter in April. He succeeded to the title on his father's death in 1753, but lived so extravagantly that he had to sell the furnishings of his seat at Easton Neston, including his sculptures, previously part of the Arundel marbles and later bought by George's grandfather Baron Leominster. George's mother bought the sculptures from him and presented them to the University of Oxford. In 1763, he became Gentleman of the Bedchamber and in 1771 he was made a privy counsellor.