John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer

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John Poyntz Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer, KG (27 October 1835 – 13 August 1910) (known as the Red Earl because of his distinctive long red beard) was a British Liberal Party politician under and close friend of British prime minister William Ewart Gladstone. He was the son of Frederick Spencer, 4th Earl Spencer and was educated at Harrow .

He succeeded to the Earldom of Spencer in 1857. He served in a number of governmental posts; he served as Lord President of the Council and as First Lord of the Admiralty. Most famously, he served twice as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, when in 1882 Lord Frederick Cavendish and T.H. Burke, the Chief Secretary for Ireland and the Under-Secretary for Ireland, were assassinated in what came to be known as the Phoenix Park Murders. Outside politics, he was the man who introduced barbed wire to Britain.

During Lord Spencer's tenure as Lord Lieutenant in Ireland, his staff was staffed with several homosexuals, which led one nationalist MP to famously nickname the Lord Lieutenant's Dublin Castle administration Sodom and Begorrah.^{[citation needed]}

On 8 July 1858, he married Charlotte Seymour (a granddaughter of Lord Hugh Seymour), but the union did not produce any heirs and on his death, was succeeded by his half-brother, Charles.

Political offices
Preceded by The Duke of Abercorn	Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1868–1874	Succeeded by The Duke of Abercorn
Preceded by The Duke of Richmond and Gordon	Lord President of the Council 1880–1883	Succeeded by Chichester Fortescue
Preceded by The Earl Cowper	Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1882–1885	Succeeded by The Earl of Carnarvon
Preceded by The Viscount Cranbrook	Lord President of the Council 1886	Succeeded by The Viscount Cranbrook
Preceded by The Lord George Hamilton	First Lord of the Admiralty 1892–1895	Succeeded by George Joachim Goschen
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by Frederick Spencer	Earl Spencer 1857–1910	Succeeded by Charles Spencer