Charles Colyear, 2nd Earl Of Portmore
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Charles Colyear, 2nd Earl of Portmore, KT (27 August 1700 – 5 July 1785), known as Lord Milsington to 1730, of Portmore House, Weybridge, Surrey, was a British Whig politician who sat in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...
between 1726 and 1730, when he succeeded to the peerage as
Earl of Portmore Earl of Portmore was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1703 for the Scottish military commander David Colyear, 1st Lord Portmore. He had already been created Lord Portmore in 1699 and was made Lord Colyear and Viscount of Mil ...
. He subsequently became a Scottish representative peer in the
House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
. He was a racehorse owner and was known as Beau Colyear for his conspicuous dress.


Early life

Colyear was the son of David Colyear, 1st Earl of Portmore and his wife
Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester Catherine Colyear, ''suo jure'' Countess of Dorchester and Countess of Portmore (''née'' Sedley; 21 December 1657 – 26 October 1717), was an English noble and courtier. She was the mistress of King James II of England both before and after h ...
, daughter of
Sir Charles Sedley, 5th Baronet Sir Charles Sedley, 5th Baronet (March 1639 – 20 August 1701), was an English noble, dramatist and politician. He was principally remembered for his wit and profligacy.. Life He was the son of Sir John Sedley, 2nd Baronet, of Aylesford in ...
, MP, of Aylesford, Kent, and former mistress of James II. His mother was the owner of Portmore House, Weybridge, which became the seat of the Earls of Portmore. In 1719, he was page to the Princess of Wales.


Career

Milsington was returned as Member of Parliament for Wycombe on the Wharton interest at a by-election on 1 February 1726 but on account of the partiality of the returning officer, the election was declared void on 22 February. At the subsequent rerun of the by-election on 3 March he was again returned as MP through the partiality of the returning officer, but was unseated on petition on 17 March. 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 trigg ...
he was returned as MP
Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia *Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Andov ...
in a contest. He voted with the Administration on the civil list arrears in 1729. On 2 January 1730 Milsington succeeded to the peerage on the death of his father and vacated his seat in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...
. In February 1732, he was sent as envoy to Don Carlos, when he took possession of Parma and Piacenza. He was made a knight of the
Order of the Thistle The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle is an order of chivalry associated with Scotland. The current version of the order was founded in 1687 by King James VII of Scotland, who asserted that he was reviving an earlier order. The ...
on 2 June 1732. From 1734 to 1737, he was a Scottish representative peer in the House of Lords.


Society

Portmore was a leading racehorse owner and owned among others,
Crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek language, Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen#Arthropoda, abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the Thorax (arthropo ...
and Squirt. He became well known in high society for the splendour of his dress and equipages. He was a founding Governor of the
Foundling Hospital The Foundling Hospital (formally the Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children) was a children's home in London, England, founded in 1739 by the philanthropy, philanthropic Captain (nautical), sea captain ...
, a charity created in 1739, dedicated to the salvation of abandoned children.


Personal life

On 7 October 1732, Lord Portmore married Juliana Osborne, Duchess of Leeds, daughter of Roger Hele of Halwell, Devon, and widow of Peregrine Osborne, 3rd Duke of Leeds Together, they were the parents of: # Caroline Colyear (–1812), who married
Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Baron Scarsdale Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Baron Scarsdale (1726 – 5 December 1804) of Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire was an English British Tory Party, Tory politician and Peerage, peer. Early life Curzon was the son of Sir Nathaniel Curzon, 4th Baronet of Kedleston ...
. # Juliana Colyear (1735–1821), who married Henry Dawkins in 1759. # David Colyear, Viscount Milsington (1736–1756), who died unmarried. # William Charles Colyear, 3rd Earl of Portmore (1745–1823), who married Lady Mary Leslie, second daughter of
John Leslie, 10th Earl of Rothes General John Leslie, 10th Earl of Rothes KT (169810 December 1767) was a senior British Army officer who became Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Irish Army between 1758 and 1767. Military career Born the eldest son of John Hamilton-Leslie, 9 ...
.Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.''
Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...
, U.S.A.:
Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...
(Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003. Volume 3, page 3539.
Lord Portmore also had an illegitimate daughter by Elizabeth Collier: * Elizabeth Collier (1747–1832), who married Col. Edward Pole (1718–1780). After his death, she married, as his second wife, Dr.
Erasmus Darwin Erasmus Robert Darwin (12 December 173118 April 1802) was an English physician. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosophy, natural philosopher, physiology, physiologist, Society for Effecting the ...
(grandfather of
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...
from his first marriage). Lord Portmore died on 5 July 1785. His widow died on 20 November 1794.


Arms


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Portmore, Charles Colyear, 2nd Earl 1700 births 1785 deaths British people of Scottish descent
Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...
2 Knights of the Thistle Milsington, Charles Colyear, Viscount Freemasons of the Premier Grand Lodge of England