Carteret Leathes (July 1698 – 1780), of Oakley House, near Harwich, Essex, was a British politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

from1727 to 1747.

Early life

Leathes was born Mussenden, the eldest son of John Mussenden of Hillsborough, County Down and his wife Jane Leathes, daughter of Adam Leathes. He matriculated at

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...

in 1717. He married Loveday Garrod, daughter of S. Garrod of Lincolnshire. In 1727, he succeeded his uncle William Leathes (resident at Brussels c.1718-24) and assumed name of Leathes 1727.

Political career

Leathes’ inheritance included an estate near Harwich, where he intended to stand at the

1727 British general election The 1727 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 7th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election was trig ...

, but in the event was returned as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Sudbury. In 1733 he was described as ‘a friend to the Government, a sure one, and has not given a vote against us’. In 1733 Leathes applied to Walpole for the government interest at Harwich for the next election, and Walpole agreed that this should go to Leathes and Lord Perceval, standing jointly. At the

1734 British general election The 1734 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 8th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. Robert Walpole's incr ...

, Leathes said he could not persuade his supporters to go along with the compact, and he joined with Charles Stanhope, against Perceval. Leathes became Recorder of Harwich in 1734. At the

1741 British general election The 1741 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 9th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election saw suppo ...

he nominated his brother, Hill Mussenden, to replace him at Harwich, and went back to Sudbury. He supported the Administration until the end of 1743, when he and his brother voted with the Opposition on a motion to discontinue the service of the Hanoverians from British pay. They abstained from both the two subsequent divisions on the Hanoverians in 1744 and 1746. He lost control of Harwich at the

1747 British general election The 1747 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 10th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election saw Henr ...

when his brother was replaced there by a government nominee.

Later life

Leathes never stood for election again, but continued to play a part in Harwich politics. Leathes married Loveday Garrod. He died in 1780 leaving three sons and a daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leathes, Carteret 1698 births 1780 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1727–1734 British MPs 1734–1741 British MPs 1741–1747