Giles Earle (1678 – 20 August 1758), was a British Army officer and 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. ...
for 32 years from 1715 to 1747. He had a reputation as a wit.
Early life
Earle came from a family resident at
Eastcourt, Crudwell,
near
Malmesbury
Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the up ...
, Wiltshire. He was the sixth son of
Sir Thomas Earle, MP and
mayor of Bristol
The Mayor of Bristol is the head of government of Bristol and the chief executive of the Bristol City Council. The mayor is a directly elected politician who, along with the 70 members of Bristol City Council, is responsible for the strategic ...
, and his wife Elizabeth Ellinor Jackson, daughter of Joseph Jackson. He was admitted at
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...
in 1692. He was the brother of
Joseph Earle. Earle's father bequeathed him the lands of Crudwell in 1696. He married Elizabeth Lowther, widow of William Lowther and daughter of
Sir William Rawlinson, serjeant-at-law, by licence dated 20 May 1702.
He joined the army and was a captain in the
33rd Foot
The Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, forming part of the King's Division.
In 1702, Colonel George Hastings, 8th Earl of Huntingdon, was authorised to raise a new regiment, which he di ...
in 1702, and captain in the
Royal Horse Guards
The Royal Regiment of Horse Guards (The Blues) (RHG) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry.
Raised in August 1650 at Newcastle upon Tyne and County Durham by Sir Arthur Haselrigge on the orders of Oliver Cr ...
from 1711 to 1717. He served under
John, the second duke of Argyll, who was distinguished both in war and in politics. Earle was commissary of musters in Spain in 1711 and commissary-general of provisions in Spain in 1711 and at Minorca from 1712 to 1717.
[
]
Political career
On the accession of George I George I or 1 may refer to:
People
* Patriarch George I of Alexandria ( fl. 621–631)
* George I of Constantinople (d. 686)
* George I of Antioch (d. 790)
* George I of Abkhazia (ruled 872/3–878/9)
* George I of Georgia (d. 1027)
* Yuri Dolgoruk ...
Earle entered into political life, and was elected 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 of ...
for Chippenham
Chippenham is a market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village ...
at the 1715 general election. Earle's connection to the Duke of Argyle had lasted for twenty years, and was so marked that Sir Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader ...
, in a letter written in 1716, styled him 'the Duke of Argyll's Earle'. Through his intimacy with the Duke of Argyll, who was Groom of the Stole
The Groom of the Stool (formally styled: "Groom of the King's Close Stool") was the most intimate of an English monarch's courtiers, responsible for assisting the king in excretion and hygiene.
The physical intimacy of the role naturally led to ...
to the Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...
, he exerted himself in the autumn of 1716 in promoting addresses of congratulation from Gloucestershire and the adjacent counties to the prince on his success as regent during the absence of George I George I or 1 may refer to:
People
* Patriarch George I of Alexandria ( fl. 621–631)
* George I of Constantinople (d. 686)
* George I of Antioch (d. 790)
* George I of Abkhazia (ruled 872/3–878/9)
* George I of Georgia (d. 1027)
* Yuri Dolgoruk ...
in Hanover. He voted against the government in 1717 and in consequence lost his post in Minorca. However, for his services in support of the Prince of Wales, he was rewarded in 1718 with the post of Groom of the bedchamber to the Prince of Wales. He resigned this position in 1720, when public differences broke out between the prince and his father, and took a post under the Duke of Argyll as Clerk of Board of Green Cloth.[
At the general election of 1722 Earle stood for Parliament at ]Malmesbury
Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the up ...
where he was defeated in the poll, but seated on petition on 13 December 1722. He was returned unopposed at the 1727 general election and through Walpole became chairman of committee of privileges and elections. In 1728 was made a commissioner of Irish revenue. He was returned unopposed again for Malmesbury at the 1734 general election. In 1737, he replaced Sir George Oxenden when Oxenden was deprived of his lordship of the treasury and he retained its emoluments until 1742.[ His readiness to do the minister's bidding ingratiated him with Walpole, to whom he was an acceptable companion although he was personally unpopular.
]Lord Chesterfield
Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, (22 September 169424 March 1773) was a British statesman, diplomat, and man of letters, and an acclaimed wit of his time.
Early life
He was born in London to Philip Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Ches ...
, when Walpole's fall seemed probable, wrote, with allusion to Earle, that "the court generally proposes some servile and shameless tool of theirs to be chairman of the committee of privileges and elections. Why should not we therefore pick out some whig of a fair character and with personal connections to oppose the ministerial nominee?". These tactics were adopted. The ministry proposed Earle, though some thought that his unpopularity would have led to the selection of another candidate, and the opposition proposed Dr Lee. The struggle came off on 15 December 1741, when Earle was beaten by four votes, polling 238 to 242 for his opponent. Earle's name then dropped out of sight. He was defeated in a contest at Malmesbury at the 1747 general election.[
]
Reputation
Earle's sordid nature and broad jokes were the subject of universal comment, and his jests are said to have been "set off by a whining tone, crabbed face, and very laughing eyes". Two dialogues between "G——s E——e and B——b D——n" (Earle and Bubb Dodington) were published, one in 1741 and the other in 1743; the former, written by Sir C. Hanbury Williams, conveyed a "lively image of Earle's style and sentiments", and in both of them the shameless political conduct of this pair of intriguers was vividly displayed. Three of Earle's letters to Mrs Howard, afterwards the Countess of Suffolk, are in the Suffolk Letters. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (née Pierrepont; 15 May 168921 August 1762) was an English aristocrat, writer, and poet. Born in 1689, Lady Mary spent her early life in England. In 1712, Lady Mary married Edward Wortley Montagu, who later served a ...
speaks of him as 'a facetious gentleman, vulgarly called Tom Earle. ... His toast was always "God bless you, whatever becomes of me"'.
Family
Earle died at his seat, Eastcourt House, Crudwell, on 20 August 1758, aged 80.[ He had issue Eleanor and William Rawlinson. The latter, who was also a member of parliament and a placeman, died in 1774, aged 72, and was buried near his sister in the vault of his grandfather at ]Hendon, Middlesex
Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Gre ...
. A monument in Crudwell Church records the names of Giles Earle and his descendants to 1771.
References
;Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Earle, Giles
1678 births
1758 deaths
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies
British MPs 1715–1722
British MPs 1722–1727
British MPs 1727–1734
British MPs 1734–1741
British MPs 1741–1747