WILLOUOHBY— WILMINGTON. 1 59 XIV. (W«). 1775, 14* Oborob (WiUiOuoHBT), Baron Willoughdt to OP Parram, nephew And h. male, being only e. and h. of 1779. Fortune Willouorbt, bj Hannah(*} formerly wife of Oook ToLLKT, of Swansoombe, eo. Kent, da. of Tbomaa Barrow, of Deptford, which Fortune (who was Imr, 20 June 1750 at Bunhill fields) was yst. br. of the late IiOrd.(*>) He who was b. 24 April and bap. 19 May 1742 at 8t. George's in the East, was ed. at Warrington " academy," and was a Pensioner at Queen's Coll., Cambridge, about May 1770. He tue. to the Peerage 29 June 1776, and was, on 16 May 1776, the sole surv. iiwue (if his paternal grandfather. He </. 8.p. 29 Oct. 1779 when the liarony, as er. by iiateut, 20 Feb. 1546/7, beoame exUnet. Will pr. Nov. 1779. WILMINGTON. Barony. i. Thb Rt. Hon. Sir Spbkobr Ck>MFTONy KB., was er. I 1728 9 J""- ^728, BARON WILMINGTON, oo. Submz, and shortly after- wards, being then U Privy Seal, was cr., 14 May 1780, VISCOUNT Barldom. PEVENSRV and EARL OF WILMINGTON, both oo. Sussex. He T 1 7^0 ^"' ^*^ '"^' ^' ^^^^ (CoMPmN), 8d Earl op NoRTBAnnoR, by 1. 1 ij)U, |jj, g^^jon,! yfif^^ Mary, da. of Baptist (Nom.), 8d VisooURT Gampdrr ;
- J was 6. about 1674 ; uialric. at Oxford (Trin. Coll.), 28 Feb. 1689/90,
1743. nged 15 ; Barrister (Mid. Temple), 1686() ; M.P. for Eye (in the Whig interest) in seven Paris., 1698—1710; for East Grinstead, 1718-15, and for Sussex, 1715-28 ; Chairman of the Committee for privileges, 1705-10 ; Trsasurer to the Queen's Consort, Prince George fif Denmark, 1707-08 ; Speaker of the House of Commons, 1715-27 ; P.O., 1716 ; Paymaster Gen. (a highly lucrative office), 1722-80 ; X.B., 27 May 1725, on the revival of that Order. On the accession of Geo. II., with whom he was in great favour, he was designed by him to be Prime Minister, a position which, however, was retaiued by Widpole, Iia, however, being raised to the peerage and cr, 8 Jan. 1728, Baron Wilmington as afsd. ; L. Keeper of the Privy Seal, May to Dec. 17S0, and was er. 14 May 1730, Vi»coutU Peveneeg and Earl of IVilmiTigton, as afsd. ; er, D.C.L. of Oxford, 5 Dec. 1780 ; L. President of the Council, 1780-42: was el. K.a., 12 June and inat 22 Aug. 1783, having previouslv resigned the Order of the Bath. After the death of Caroline, the Queen Consort, he appears to have op|>oeed the measures of Walpole, whom, eventaallyi he supplanted, becoming, during the laet year of his life. First Lord of the Treasury (Prime Minister), 11 Feb. 1742. He d, unm. 2 July 1743, sged about 70, and was 6ttr. at Compton Wynyates, co. Warwick, when all hie honours beoame ejUinei.{^) {^) This Hannah, who m. Fortune Willoughby , 7 Feb. 1746, at St. Catharine by the Tower of London, long survived her son, dymg about Oct. 1796. (^) Three intermediate brothers were (1) William, who m- in 1728, Elisabeth (— ) and cf. 27 Dec. 1729, leaving by her (who tL 1766) an only surv. child William, who m. Mary, widow of Richard Bray, huid. s.p. 19 Sep. 1755, being 6iir. at Bunhill fields ; (2) Joseph who m. Anne de Graves, of St. Catharine by the Tower of London, but d B.p. before June 1775 and was bur. at Bunhill fields ; (8) Edward who d a. p. before June 1776. {^) He was Counsel for Dr. Bentley at his trial before the Bishop of Ely. (<>) " A man of the most moderate intelligence," writes Lecky. "The most formal solemn man in the world, but a great lover of private debauchery,'* says Walpole [(Tee. //.]. "His sssiduity in business and puuctunlity in accounts rendered him respectable in the opinions of Qeo. II., who . . . esteemed it one of the most essential requisites in a Minister.'* [Ooxe's WolpolcJ. The lie«t descripticm, however, of him is in the New Ode to a Oreat Aumber of Great Afen, by the witty Sir C. Hanbury Williams : — " See yon old dull important Lord, Who at the long'd-for money board Sits first ; but does not lead. His younger brethren all things make ; So that the Treasury's like a snake. And the tail moves the head" For ** with the Duke of Newcastle and Carteret as Secretaries of State and Pulteney (without office) in the Cabinet, Wilmington was Prime Minister in name only." lNat,Bioffr.}
