Educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was a Whig MP aligned with Edmund Burke, first lord of the Admiralty (1794-1801) and home secretary (1806-07). He was a book collector and patron of the poets John Clare and Herbert Knowles.

REFERENCES TO George John Spencer, second earl Spencer:

Duchess of Devonshire to Lady Melbourne, [24 November 1802] in In Whig Society 1775-1818: Compiled from the hitherto unpublished Correspondence of Elizabeth, Viscountess Melbourne, and Emily Lamb, Countess Cowper, afterwards Viscountess Palmerston (London: Hodder and Stoughton LTD., 1921)

Rev. William Price to the Prince Regent, 1 February 1806 in The Creevey Papers: A Selection from the Correspondence & Diaries of the late Thomas Creevey, M.P. (London: John Murray, 1903)

Walter Scott to the Earl of Dalkeith, 11 February 1806 in Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart. 7 vols (Edinburgh: Robert Cadell, 1837)

Walter Scott to George Ellis, 20 February 1806 in Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart. 7 vols (Edinburgh: Robert Cadell, 1837)

Sydney Smith to Lady Holland, 24 January 1811 in A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith. By his Daughter, Lady Holland. With a Selection from his Letters, edited by Mrs. Austin 2 vols (London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855)

Samuel Rogers to Sarah Rogers, [1815?] in Samuel Rogers and his Contemporaries 2 Vols (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1889)

George Wilbraham to William Roscoe, [1815 c.?] in The Life of William Roscoe 2 vols (London: T. Cadell, 1833)

Herbert Knowles to Robert Southey, 28 December 1816 in The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey (London: 1849-1850)

John Gibson to William Roscoe, [1817] in The Life of William Roscoe 2 vols (London: T. Cadell, 1833)

Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 16 August 1820 in The Creevey Papers: A Selection from the Correspondence & Diaries of the late Thomas Creevey, M.P. (London: John Murray, 1903)

Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 17 August 1820 in The Creevey Papers: A Selection from the Correspondence & Diaries of the late Thomas Creevey, M.P. (London: John Murray, 1903)

Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 16 February 1830 in The Creevey Papers: A Selection from the Correspondence & Diaries of the late Thomas Creevey, M.P. (London: John Murray, 1903)

Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 12 November 1834 in The Creevey Papers: A Selection from the Correspondence & Diaries of the late Thomas Creevey, M.P. (London: John Murray, 1903)

John Herman Merivale to Francis Hodgson, [18 November 1834] in Memoir of Francis Hodgson 2 Vols (London: Macmillan and Co., 1878)

Sydney Smith to Lady Grey, 19 November 1834 in A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith. By his Daughter, Lady Holland. With a Selection from his Letters, edited by Mrs. Austin 2 vols (London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855)

Richard Sharp to Samuel Rogers, 26 November 1834 in Samuel Rogers and his Contemporaries 2 Vols (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1889)