He inherited the earldom on 5 December 1993 when his cousin Frederick Ponsonby, 10th Earl of Bessborough died without a male heir.
This lady was also a key figure in a film - played by Sarah Miles - in 1972.
He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and obtained the degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Civil Law.
The "Report of her Majesty's Commissioners of Enquiry into the working of the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act of 1870 and the acts amending the same", under the chairmanship of the 6th Earl of Bessborough and hence commonly known as the Bessborough Commission Report, was published in 1881 after lengthy hearings in 1880.
Frederick Ponsonby (later Earl of Bessborough) to perform during Kent's annual Canterbury Cricket Week.
Since 1983 the House and Estate have been owned by Stansted Park Foundation, a charitable trust charged with the preservation of the estate for the benefit of the nation, which was the wish of the last owner, Frederick Ponsonby, 10th Earl of Bessborough.
He inherited the earldom on 11 March 1895 when his elder brother Frederick Ponsonby, 6th Earl of Bessborough, died unmarried and without a male heir.
Frederick the Great | Frederick | Frederick II | Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor | Frederick Russell Burnham | Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts | Frederick Law Olmsted | Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor | Frederick Forsyth | Frederick Douglass | Frederick, Maryland | Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany | Frederick III | Frederick I | Frederick Delius | Ponsonby | Frederick William III of Prussia | John Frederick II, Duke of Saxony | Frederick III, German Emperor | Frederick William IV of Prussia | Frederick Schomberg, 1st Duke of Schomberg | Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach | Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor | Frederick, Prince of Wales | Frederick Funston | Frederick Ashton | Ponsonby, New Zealand | John Frederick II | Frederick Wiseman | Frederick Marryat |
John, 5th Earl of Bessborough, played five games in the 1830s; Frederick, the 6th Earl, played more than 70 games between 1834 and 1856, and was a founder of both Surrey and I Zingari; while Spencer appeared over 60 times between 1841 and 1862.
Major-General The Honourable Sir Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby, GCMG, KCB, KCH (6 July 1783 – 11 January 1837), styled The Honourable from 1806 to 1837, was a British military officer, the second son of the 3rd Earl of Bessborough and Henrietta Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough.
During 1842, Taylor, together with his Cambridge friends Frederick Ponsonby (Earl of Bessborough), Charles G. Taylor and William Bolland, formed the Old Stagers, which is recognised as the oldest amateur drama society still performing.