DIGBY 355 and last Earl of Bristol and Baron Digby of Sherborne. He J. 29 Nov. i 752, aged 90, and was bur. at Sherborne afsd. Will pr. 1753. V"I. 1752. 6. Edward (Digby), Baron Digby of Geashill [I.], grandson and h., being s. and h. of the Hon. Edward Digby, M.P. for Warwickshire (1726-46), by Charlotte, sister of Stephen, 1st Earl of Ilchester, da. of Sir Stephen Fox, which Edward was 3rd but 1st surv.(*) s. and h. ap. of the last Lord, but d. v.p., 2 Oct. 1746. He was b. 5 July 1730; M.P. (Tory) for Malmesbury, 1751-54; and for Wells, 1754-57; was Groom of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales 1751-53. He d. unm., 30 Nov. 1757, and was bur. at Coleshill, co. W^arwick, aged 27. Will pr. 1758. VII. 1757. 7 and I. Henry (Digby), Baron Digby of Geas- hill [I.], next br. and h., b. 21 July 1731; M.P. for BARONY. Ludgershall, 1755-61; for Wells, 1761-65; Under Sec. r,r /b (1 for the South, 1755-56; a Lord of the Admiralty, 1763-65. i^-U iTf'S- On n or 19 Aug. 1765, he was cr. BARON DIGBY EARLDOM '^^ SHERBORNE, co. Dorset [G.B.],^) with a spec, rem. failing his issue male, to the issue male of his father. I. 1790. Lord Lieut, of Dorset, 1771-93. He was on i Nov. 1790, cr. VISCOUNT COLESHILL, co. Warwick, and EARL DIGBY, co. Lincoln, with the usual rem.C') He w., istly, 5 Sep. 1763, Elizabeth, da. of the Hon. Charles Feilding (2nd s. of Basil, 4th Earl of Denbigh), by Anne, da. of Sir Thomas Palmer, Bart. She d. s.p.s., 19 Jan. 1765, of fever, in London, and was bur. at Sherborne, Dorset, aged 23. He m., 2ndly, 10 Nov. 1770, at St. Geo., Han. Sq., Mary (a fortune of^ 1 2,000), da. and h. of John Knowler, Recorder of Canter- bury. He d. 25 Sep. 1793, at Sherborne, and was bur. there, aged 62. ('^) Will pr. Nov. 1793. His widow d. 26 Feb. 1794, in Lower Brook Str., Midx., and was bur. at Sherborne. Will pr. May 1794. (') His elder brothers, John and Robert, d. unm. 171 7 and 19 Apr. 1726 respectively, and were bur. at Sherborne. V.G. C") The Barony of Digby of Sherborne, co. Dorset [E.], had been before con- ferred in 161 8, and became extinct in 1698. The Barony of 1765 [though a Barony of Great Britain] is numbered (as in Courthope, and in accordance with tlie system pursued in this work) as a continuation of the English Barony of 1618. (■=) The Rev. A. B. Beaven writes: "In the Commons he, like his brother wiio preceded him in the title, is difficult to classify, because of the period of party stagnation at the end of George II's reign, and he may probably have called himself a Whig if he called himself by any party name. He held office in the composite ministry of George Grenville, and obtained his G.B. peerage by the influence of Lord Holland, when that ministry was dismissed. According to the Royal Register^ vol. v (1781), Digby was ' the only man of sterling character whom Lord Holland was concerned in promoting.' In the House of Lords, looking at facts rather than names, he was to all intents and purposes a Tory, as he supported North up to 1782. He did not vote on the India Bill of 1783, but he adhered to Pitt on the Regency Bill, and got his Earldom from him." V.G. C^) Edward, the only child by his ist wife, h. 20 June l 764, d. an infant. V.G.
