Francis Henry Egerton, 8th earl of Bridgewater (1756–1829)

Scholar and patron of learning. His literary works, many on his notable ancestors, were mostly privately published. Bequeathed £8000 in his will to commission works illustrating the "power, wisdom, and goodness of God as manifested in the Creation"; the money to be divided among eight persons. The resulting essays have become known as the Bridgewater treatises. FRS 1781.