George Berkeley 1626/7-1698
From Book Owners Online
George BERKELEY, 1st Earl Berkeley 1626/7-98
Biographical Note
Son of George Berkeley, 8th Baron Berkeley. Possibly educated at christ Church, Oxford, without graduating. MP for Gloucestershire in the 1650s, succeded to his father's peerage in 1658. Founder member of the Royal African Company, 1663, and Fellow of the Royal Society; governor of the Levant Company 1672, member of the Board of Trade 1678, of the East India Company 1681. He was created Earl of Berkeley in 1679. Landowner, politician, Governor of the Levant Company.
Books
Berkeley inherited a library of books made by Sir Robert Coke (1587-1653, who married his aunt); he gave 555 volumes to Sion College in 1681, and bequeathed the remainder to the College.
Sources
- British Armorial Bindings.
- Warmington, Andrew. "Berkeley, George, first earl of Berkeley (1626/7–1698), politician." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
- Pearce, E. Sion College and Library, 1913, 258-60.
- Berkeley armorial binding in Sion College Library.