George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley
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George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley PC FRS (1628 – 10 October 1698) was an English merchant 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. T ...
from 1654 until 1658 when he succeeded to the peerage.


Life

Berkeley was the son of
George Berkeley, 8th Baron Berkeley George Berkeley, 8th Baron Berkeley, KB (1601 – 10 August 1658) was a seventeenth-century English nobleman and a prominent patron of literature in his generation. Family George Berkeley, baptized 26 October 1601 at Low Leyton, Essex, was the on ...
(d. 1658), and his wife, Elizabeth Stanhope, daughter of Sir Michael Stanhope. Berkeley was a canon-commoner at Christ Church, Oxford, but did not take any degree. In 1654 he was elected Member of Parliament for
Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...
in the
First Protectorate Parliament The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. It sat for one term from 3 September 1654 until 22 January 1655 with William Lenthall as the Speaker of the Ho ...
. He was re-elected MP for Gloucestershire in 1656 for the
Second Protectorate Parliament The Second Protectorate Parliament in England sat for two sessions from 17 September 1656 until 4 February 1658, with Thomas Widdrington as the Speaker of the House of Commons. In its first session, the House of Commons was its only chamber; in ...
. Berkeley succeeded to the barony in 1658, and was nominated in May 1660 as one of the commissioners to proceed to
the Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
and invite Charles II to return to the kingdom. In the following November he was made keeper of the house gardens and parks of
Nonsuch Palace Nonsuch Palace was a Tudor royal palace, built by Henry VIII in Surrey, England; it stood from 1538 to 1682–83. Its site lies in what is now Nonsuch Park on the boundaries of the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey and the London Boro ...
, where the Duchess of Cleveland later lived. In 1661 Berkeley was placed on the council for foreign plantations. In 1663 he became a member of the Royal African Company on its formation (10 January), acquiring a share in the territory lying between the port of Salee in South Barbary and the Cape of Good Hope. In the same year he was elected
Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...
. He was made a privy councillor in 1677. In April 1678, he was made a member of the Board of Trade and plantations which had been established in 1668. On 11 September 1679 he was created Viscount Dursley and Earl of Berkeley. He was elected to the governorship of the Levant Company on 9 February 1680 and held the position for most, if not the whole, of his subsequent life. In May 1681 he was elected one of the masters of
Trinity House "Three In One" , formation = , founding_location = Deptford, London, England , status = Royal Charter corporation and registered charity , purpose = Maintenance of lighthouses, buoys and beacons , he ...
. At this time he was a member of the
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...
. In February 1685 he was appointed
Custos Rotulorum of Gloucestershire This is a list of people who have served as Custos Rotulorum of Gloucestershire. *Sir Edmund Tame bef. 1544–1544 *Sir Anthony Kingston 1544?–1556 *Sir Nicholas Arnold bef. 1558–1580 *Sir Thomas Throckmorton bef. 1584 – 16 ...
, and 21 July 1685 was sworn of the privy council. After the flight of James II, 11 December 1688, Berkeley was among the lords who assembled at Guildhall and declared themselves a provisional government. He was nominated as ambassador to Constantinople on 16 July 1698, but not wishing to go, petitioned parliament to be excused the office. He died in England and was buried in the parish church of Cranford, Middlesex, where he had an estate.


Works

He published in 1668 a religious work entitled ''Historical Applications and Occasional Meditations upon several Subjects.''


Family

Berkeley married on 11 August 1646, Elizabeth Massingberd, daughter of John Massingberd, treasurer of the East India Company, by whom he had two sons, Charles and George, and six daughters: *
Charles Berkeley, 2nd Earl of Berkeley Charles Berkeley, 2nd Earl of Berkeley, KB, PC, FRS (8 April 1649 – 24 September 1710) was a British nobleman and diplomat, known as Sir Charles Berkeley from 1661 to 1679 and styled Viscount Dursley from 1679 to 1698. Life The son of George ...
(8 April 1649 – 24 September 1710) * Rev. Hon. George Berkeley (d. 1694); graduated M.A. at Christ Church, 9 July 1669, took holy orders, and became a
prebendary of Westminster The Dean and Chapter of Westminster are the ecclesiastical governing body of Westminster Abbey, a collegiate church of the Church of England and royal peculiar in Westminster, Greater London. They consist of the dean and several canons meeting in ...
, 13 July 1687, married Jane Cole and had issue * Lady Elizabeth Berkeley (c. 1650 – d. 1681); married William Smythe Esq. (c. 1645 – d. 1720) and had issue. ** Theophilia Smythe; married on 4 November 1696 in
Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...
Arthur Moore MP and had issue, including
James Moore Smythe James Moore Smythe (; 1702 – 18 October 1734) was an English playwright and fop. Biography Smythe was appointed by the King to the Office of, Co-Paymaster of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms. He was born James Moore. He was the son ...
, William Moore M.P. for
Banbury Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. It had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshir ...
, and Arthur Moore Smythe. ** Elizabeth (Moore) Ormond, married 1718 Wyriott Ormond Sr. of London No: 11 Meard St. London and Bath N.C. Colonial Official and had issue, including Roger Ormond or Ormand. * Lady Theophilia Berkeley (1650 – 26 January 1706/7), married Sir Kingsmill Lucy, 2nd Baronet, and had issue. She married, secondly, Robert Nelson. * Lady Arabella Berkeley; married Sir William Pulteney, son and heir of Sir William Pulteney, Bt., of Misterton, and had issue. * Lady Mary Berkeley (d. 19 May 1719); married, firstly,
Ford Grey, 1st Earl of Tankerville Ford Grey, 1st Earl of Tankerville PC (20 July 1655 – 24 June 1701), 1st Viscount Glendale, and 3rd Baron Grey of Werke, was an English nobleman and statesman. Early life Grey was the eldest son of Ralph Grey, 2nd Baron Grey of Werke and Cathe ...
, and had issue. Married, secondly, after 22 May 1712, Richard Rooth. * Lady Henrietta Berkeley (b. c. 1664 – 1706); unmarried, famously seduced by her sister's husband, the Earl of Tankerville, in 1681. * Lady Arethusa Berkeley (d. 11 February 1742/3); married
Charles Boyle, 3rd Viscount Dungarvan Charles Boyle, Viscount Dungarvan, 3rd Baron Clifford, FRS ( bapt. 12 December 1639 – 12 October 1694), was an English peer and politician. He was a member of a famous Anglo-Irish aristocratic family. Early life Charles Boyle was the son ...
, and had issue.


References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berkeley, George 1628 births 1698 deaths 101 Original Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Privy Council of England Members of Trinity House
George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...
English MPs 1654–1655 English MPs 1656–1658 Politicians from Gloucestershire