George Augustus Henry Anne Parkyns, 2nd Baron Rancliffe (10 June 1785 – 1 November 1850) of Bunny Hall was an English landowner and politician from Nottinghamshire.
His championing of progressive causes was later tempered by his private support for protectionism, and had always jarred with his public image as a playboy enjoying his inherited wealth.
[2] Sir William was a nabob, a self-made man whose fortune was acquired in naval prize money and private commerce from his service with the British East India Company, of which he later became a director.
[2] In 1801 Moira purchased a commission[2] in the British Army for the young Lord Rancliffe, as a cornet in the 10th Light Dragoons,[10] which was then seen as a first-rate regiment.
[15] Later the same month he joined Brooks's club,[12] and on his twenty-first birthday in June, he came into an annual income of £21,000 a year[12] (equivalent to £2.15 million in 2025[16]).
Rancliffe later cited his experience in Minehead as evidence in favour of parliamentary reform, saying that he had paid a lot of money for the seat but had never in his life set foot in the town.
The wedding took place by special licence[19] in Castle Forbes,[20] County Longford, Ireland, where the "beautiful and accomplished" bride was given away by her uncle.