George Durant (20 November 1731 – 4 August 1780) was a British landowner and politician.

Life

Durant was born the second son of the Reverend Josiah Durant, rector of Hagley,

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

and educated at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. As a young man he had an affair with Elizabeth Lyttleton, the second wife of George Lyttelton, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. To escape the consequent scandal he became a senior clerk in the Army Pay Office and was sent with the Army as paymaster on an expedition to

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, which was a lucrative posting. On his return as a wealthy man he purchased the village of

Tong Tong may refer to: Chinese *Tang Dynasty, a dynasty in Chinese history when transliterated from Cantonese *Tong (organization), a type of social organization found in Chinese immigrant communities *''tong'', pronunciation of several Chinese char ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

from the Duke of Kingston in 1764, knocked down the ancient

Tong Castle Tong Castle was a very large mostly Gothic country house in Shropshire whose site is between Wolverhampton and Telford, set within a park landscaped by Capability Brown,Wolverhampton's Listed Buildings on the site of a medieval castle of the s ...

, and built in its place a new house in a unique style based on plans drawn up by

Capability Brown Lancelot Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783), more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English la ...

. Between 1768 and 1774 he was Member of Parliament for

Evesham Evesham () is a market town and parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon. It lies within the Vale of Evesha ...

. He stood for election again in 1774 but was badly defeated. He died in 1780 and was buried in St Bartholomew's Church, Tong. He had married Maria, the daughter of Mark Beaufoy, with whom he had a son, also named George, and a daughter. Tong Castle passed to his son, who proved to be a somewhat lascivious Lord of the Manor.

References

DURANT, George (1731-80), of Tong Castle, Salop
* https://web.archive.org/web/20171129230526/http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Ecommons2.htm * http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/content/articles/2007/03/02/slavery__george_durant_feature.shtml 1731 births 1780 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1768–1774 Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub