1711 he was nominally first lord of the treasury. Harley, however, was understood to preside behind the curtain. From 12 June 1711 to August 1714 he was lord steward of the household. He was also custos rotulorum of Somerset from 26 Feb. 1712 to 13 Sept. 1714. He was elected on 3 April 1706 F.R.S.; on 25 Oct. 1712 he was elected, and on 4 Aug. 1713, he was installed, K.G.
Poulett seldom spoke in parliament. He moved, however, on 11 Jan. 1710–11, the question as to the occasion of the reverse at Almanza, which formed the subject of the second debate on the conduct of the war in Spain. On a subsequent occasion (27 May 1712), in defending the Duke of Ormonde against the charge of slackness in the field, he brutally taunted Marlborough with squandering the lives of his officers in order to fill his pockets by disposing of their commissions. At the close of the debate he received a challenge from Marlborough, and, being unable to conceal his agitation from his wife, disclosed its cause. She communicated the circumstance to Lord Dartmouth, who prevented the meeting by placing Poulett temporarily under arrest. As Poulett had not shown himself active in the interest of the House of Brunswick, he lost his places on the accession of George I, during whose reign he hardly spoke in parliament except to oppose the septennial bill on 14 April 1716 and the bill of pains and penalties against Atterbury on 15 May 1723. During the reign of George II he lived the life of a country gentleman, but was rallied to the court party shortly before his death by the gift of a lord of the bedchamber's place to his eldest son, John, who was also called up to the House of Peers as baron of Hinton St. George on 17 Jan. 1733–4. On 10 Dec. 1742 he spoke in support of the proposal to take Hanoverian troops into British pay. He died on 28 May 1743.
Poulett married by license, dated 23 April 1702, Bridget, only daughter of Peregrine Bertie of Waldershare, Kent, and niece of Robert Bertie, third earl of Lindsey, by whom he had four sons and four daughters.
Macky describes him as of ‘a mean figure in his person’ and ‘not handsome.’ A portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller has been engraved.
[Collins's Peerage, ed. Brydges, iv. 13; Luttrell's Relation of State Affairs, v. 165; Coxe's Marlborough, iii. 308; Marlborough's Letters and Despatches, ed. Sir George Murray, vol. iv.; Defoe's History of the Union of Great Britain, 1709, p. 20; Wyon's Queen Anne; Boyer's Annals of Queen Anne, passim; Lord Hervey's Memoirs, ed. 1884, i. 284; Private Correspondence of the Duchess of Marlborough, 1838, ii. 68, 71, 76, 314; Parl. Hist. vi. 961, 1137, vii. 295, xii. 1024; Hist. MSS. Comm. 8th Rep. App. pt. i. p. 39, 11th Rep. App. pt. iv. p. 221, pt. v. p. 309; Chester's London Marriage Licences.]
POULSON, GEORGE (1783–1858), topographer, was born in 1783. His first publication was ‘Beverlac; or the Antiquities and History of the Town of Beverley, in the county of York, and of the Provostry and Collegiate Establishment of St. John's; with a minute description of the present Minster and the Church of St. Mary,’ 2 vols. London, 1829, 4to, with numerous illustrations. This was followed by his principal work, entitled ‘The History and Antiquities of the Seigniory of Holderness, in the East Riding of the County of York, including the Abbies of Meaux and Swine, with the Priories of Nunkeeling and Burstall: compiled from authentic charters, records, and the unpublished manuscripts of the Rev. W. Dade, remaining in the library of Burton Constable,’ 2 vols. Hull, 1840–1, 4to, with many illustrations. He also edited Henry William Ball's ‘Social History and Antiquities of Barton-upon-Humber,’ 1856, and added elucidatory remarks. He died at Barton-upon-Humber on 12 Jan. 1858.
[Gent. Mag. 1858, pt. i. p. 449; Boyne's Yorkshire Library, pp. 152, 165.]
POUNCY, BENJAMIN THOMAS (d. 1799), draughtsman and engraver, was a pupil of William Woollett [q. v.], and is said to have been his brother-in-law (Gent. Mag. 1799, ii. 726). At an early period he obtained employment at Lambeth Palace, and for many years previous to 1786 held the post of deputy-librarian there under Dr. Ducarel and his successor, Dr. Lort. During that time he assisted Ducarel in his researches, executed facsimiles of Domesday for Surrey and Worcestershire, and engraved the plates for many antiquarian and topographical works, such as Ducarel's ‘History of St. Katherine's Hospital,’ 1782; Astle's ‘Origin and Progress of Writing,’ 1784; ‘Some Account of the Alien Priories,’ edited by J. Nichols, 1779; and Ives's ‘Remarks upon the Garianonum of the Romans,’ 1774. During the latter part of his life Pouncy produced some excellent plates of landscape and marine subjects after popular artists, of which the best are: ‘Athens in its Flourishing State,’ after R. Wilson, and ‘Athens in its Present State of Ruin,’ after S. Delane (a pair); ‘Sortie made by the Garrison of Gibraltar on 27 Nov. 1781,’ after A. Poggi; the building, chase, unlading, and dissolution of a cutter (a set of four), after J. Kitchingman,
