Spencer Ponsonby-Fane


Sir Spencer Cecil Brabazon Ponsonby-Fane, was an English cricketer and civil servant. He was born in 1824 in Mayfair, the sixth son of John Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough.

Cricket

Ponsonby played for both Middlesex and Surrey, and later administered Somerset and Harrow Cricket Club. He was one of the founders of I Zingari in 1845.

Government service

Ponsonby joined the Foreign Office in 1840. He was Private Secretary to three Foreign Secretaries: Lord Palmerston 1846–1851, Lord Granville 1851–1852, and Lord Clarendon 1853–1857. In 1856 he brought from Paris the definitive copy of the peace treaty for the Crimean War.
Later he was Comptroller of the Lord Chamberlain's Office 1857–1901, Gentleman Usher to the Sword of State 1901–1915 and Bath King of Arms 1904–1915.

Family

Ponsonby-Fane married, on 7 October 1847, Honourable Louisa Anne Rose Lee Dillon, daughter of Henry Dillon, 13th Viscount Dillon. Lady Ponsonby-Fane died at their estate on 18 July 1902. They had eleven children:
In 1875, he changed his surname to Ponsonby-Fane upon inheriting the estate of Brympton d'Evercy from his aunt, Lady Georgiana Fane. He spent the remainder of his life there improving the gardens until he died in 1915, after which the estate passed to his eldest son, John.