After going through the Eton College course and becoming an officer in
the Lancers and Life Guards, Lord George took the seat vacated by the
Marquis, as M.P. for King's Lynn, in 1826. His life was curiously
intermingled with all sorts and conditions of men. Having the hereditary
instincts of his family he was a keen votary of the turf and daring
early manhood had a partnership with his brother, the Marquis, in the
ownership of race-horses, and it was said that at a later time they were
both enamoured of Miss Annie May Berkeley, who was the cause of a
quarrel between them.
That he was a nobleman of high spirits is evident from the strenuousness
with which he lived his short life.
Lord George lost heavily by backing horses for the St. Leger of 1826;
the amount was shown to be L30,000, which his mother and sister (Lady
Charlotte) helped him to meet. The old Duke, his father, was too
cautious to bet, and in order to induce his son to settle down to
country pursuits he bought him an estate at Muirkirk, Ayrshire; but the
life of a farmer did not suit Lord George for long and he was soon
exploiting in horse-racing again, so that in 1833 he was a heavy loser
at Goodwood.
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