Gower, Francis Leveson- (1800–1857), 1st earl of Ellesmere , chief secretary for Ireland, was born 1 January 1800 in London, the youngest son of George Leveson-Gower (1758–1833), 1st duke of Sutherland, and his wife, Elizabeth (1765–1839), countess of Sutherland. Educated at Eton (1811–14) and Christ Church, Oxford (1817–20), where he obtained a second-class degree in classics, he initially embarked on a military career, and served in the 10th hussars (1821–3) and the Staffordshire yeomanry.
As Lord Francis Leveson-Gower, he entered politics, despite his relative youth, as MP for Bletchingley, Surrey (1822–6); he later represented Sutherland (1826–31) and South Lancashire (1835–46). In parliament he came under the influence of George Canning and the ‘liberal conservatives’, and through this connection was appointed a lord of the treasury (April–September 1827) after Canning became prime minister. He was one of the few Canningites who joined the government of the duke of Wellington (qv) after January 1828 and was made under-secretary for the colonies (January–May 1828). He briefly resigned from the government with the other Canningites in May 1828 but soon rejoined the administration on being appointed Irish chief secretary (21 June 1828); he was also appointed to the privy council (28 June 1828) and the Irish privy council (9 August 1828).
Lord Anglesey (qv), the Irish lord lieutenant, was reluctant to have the comparatively inexperienced Leveson-Gower as his chief secretary, but these fears were ignored by the prime minister and the pair worked well together. As chief secretary he was confronted by the election of Daniel O'Connell (qv) for Co. Clare in July 1828 and the increase in sectarian tensions that followed this, with the formation of the loyalist Brunswick Clubs and the continuation of catholic agitation. Though he was a supporter of catholic emancipation, he opposed the Catholic Association and followed the government's Irish policy without question. He gave the Irish administration an element of continuity following the recall of Lord Anglesey, who was replaced by the duke of Northumberland (qv), in January 1829, and spoke in favour of the government's measures for catholic relief and the suppression of the Catholic Association in the house of commons between February and April 1829.
The immediate post-catholic emancipation era was one of comparative calm and Leveson-Gower reported to the prime minister in July 1829 that its passing had had a remedial effect in Ireland. He visited the lakes of Killarney and Connemara in the summer of 1829, which led the opposition to accuse him of letting the administration fall – during his absence – into the hands of the conservative under-secretary, William Gregory (qv), especially as the lord lieutenant was ill. The government did face some difficulties after catholic emancipation, notably the trial of the Doneraile conspirators in Co. Cork in the autumn of 1829, several of whom were successfully defended by O'Connell. Leveson-Gower also managed several by-elections (1829–30), as well as the general election of 1830 in the government's interest. Having signalled his intention to resign as chief secretary for personal reasons in March 1830, the management of the general election was his final significant contribution before being replaced by Sir Henry Hardinge (qv) on 17 July 1830. Judged by some cabinet colleagues as bright but prone to error and unsuited for the particular challenges of Ireland, he replaced Hardinge as secretary-at-war between July and November 1830, and left the Wellington government after its collapse in November 1830.
Following this period in office, he concentrated on his other major interests: poetry, history, archaeology, art and travel. He published a translation of Goethe's Faust (1823) and throughout his life produced translations of Schiller and Korner as well as publishing a variety of works on history, archaeology and his travels in the East. Created DCL at Oxford in 1843, he held a range of offices and positions that reflected these interests: he was a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery (1856–7), rector of King's College, Aberdeen (1838–57), president of the Camden Society (1838–43), president of the British Association (1842), FSA (1847), president of the Royal Asiatic Society (1849–52) and president of the Royal Geographical Society (1853–5).
In August 1833 he took the surname Egerton in lieu of Leveson-Gower by royal licence and inherited, on the death of his father, a large portion of the family estates, reputedly worth £90,000 in 1845. He was created 1st earl of Ellesmere (6 July 1846), on the retirement of Robert Peel's (qv) government, and later became KG (7 February 1855) and lord lieutenant of Lancashire (1856–7). He died 18 February 1857 in London, aged fifty-seven.
On 18 June 1822 Leveson-Gower married Harriet Catherine, née Greville (1800–66), whose maternal grandfather was the third duke of Portland (qv); they had five sons and two daughters together. Leveson-Gower's letter books as chief secretary are in the NAI, and a bibliography of his printed works can be found in Allibone's Critical dictionary of English literature (1859). The main archive of his papers and correspondence is in the Northamptonshire Record Office.