Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland

"Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland KG, PC (5 September 1641 – 28 September 1702) was an English statesman and nobleman from the Spencer family. His sarcasm and bad temper, and his reputation as a ruthless advocate of absolute monarchy, made him numerous enemies, and he was forced to flee abroad in 1688, but later underwent a political rehabilitation. In his last years he appeared in a somewhat different light as a disinterested adviser to the Crown who neither sought nor wished for office. By the standards of the Restoration Court, his private life was remarkably free from scandal"

Family

He married Anne Digby, daughter of George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, on 9 June 1665. After an awkward start, when Sunderland broke off the engagement for no known reason,[22] the marriage was a very happy one: Lady Sunderland was rumoured to have had numerous lovers, but there is little evidence to support this, and Sunderland, despite his questionable political principles, was a devoted husband and father. They had at least five children.[23]

1. Robert Spencer (1666–1688).
2. Anne Spencer (1667–1690), married James Douglas, 4th Duke of Hamilton.
3. Isabella Spencer (1668–1684).
4. Elizabeth Spencer (1671–1704), married Donough MacCarthy, 4th Earl of Clancarty.
5. Charles Spencer (c. 1674–1722), succeeded as 3rd Earl of Sunderland.

They are believed to have had two or more other children who died young, as Lady Sunderland referred in a letter to "my two living of seven children".

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Spencer,_2nd_Earl_of_Sunderland

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=14792913

http://www.geneall.net/U/per_page.php?id=35383

http://histfam.familysearch.org/getperson.php?personID=I67602&tree=...

http://www.thepeerage.com/p10538.htm#i105374

Citations / Sources:

[S10] John Pearson, Blood Royal: The Story of the Spencers and the Royals (London, U.K.: HarperCollins, 1999), endpiece. Hereinafter cited as Blood Royal.

[S452] #21 The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant (1910), Cokayne, George Edward (main author) and Vicary Gibbs (added author), (New edition. 13 volumes in 14. London: St. Catherine Press,1910-), vol. 3 p. 217; vol. 4 p. 162.

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2nd Earl of Sunderland ~ a precursor to the present title-bought a 100 room home called the Althorp House & also bought Breat Brington, a hilltop cluster honey-stone houses, in 1508. The Spencers were sheep farmers & moved into the area in 1486. As agriculture declined, later earls gradually sold off chunks of the land.

• *NOTE

There is no proof of documentation whom the correct parents are for Robert Spencer. He has all these people listed as his parents in different genealogical sources.

No evidence John Duncan Spencer was the son of Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland