- Lord Ronald Gower
Lord Ronald Charles Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (
2 August 1845 –9 March 1916 ) was a British aristocrat and Liberal politician.Biography
The youngest son of the 2nd Duke of Sutherland and the former Lady Harriet Howard, daughter of the 6th Earl of Carlisle, he was educated at Eton and at
Trinity College, Cambridge .He was a Liberal
Member of Parliament for Sutherland from 1867-1874, and was succeeded as MP by his nephew Cromartie, Marquess of Stafford (the elder surviving son of his eldest brother the 3rd Duke of Sutherland).A sculptor, he also published a number of works on the fine arts. He was a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery, and of the Birthplace and Shakespeare Memorial Building at
Stratford-on-Avon .He never married. Gower was the model for
Lord Henry Wotton in Oscar Wilde'sThe Picture of Dorian Gray . He adopted the journalistFrank Hird .citation |first=H. Montgomery |last=Hyde |title=The Love That Dared not Speak its Name |page=156 |year=1970 |publisher=Little, Brown] "Gower may be seen, but not Hird." —Oscar WildeReferences
External links
* [http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/biog/Gowe_R.htm Biography at Centre for Whistler Studies]
* [http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fam/biog2/gowe1.html Website suggesting link to Oscar Wilde]
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