George Berkeley (1693? – 29 October 1746) 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. ...

for 26 years from 1720 to 1746.

Early life

Berkeley was the fourth and youngest son of

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 ...

, and his wife Elizabeth Noel. (Elizabeth was the daughter of Baptist Noel, Viscount Campden, and the sister of Edward, first earl of Gainsborough.) He attended

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

from its foundation in 1708 and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, in 1711, graduating MA there in 1713.

Career

Berkeley 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 of ...

for

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

at a by-election on 20 December 1720. He was returned unopposed at the general election of 1722. On 28 May 1723 he received an appointment as master keeper and governor of St Katharine's Hospital in London, and filled that post until his death. He was elected in a contest at Dover in 1727. At the 1734 general election he was returned unopposed as MP for

Hedon Hedon is a town and civil parish in Holderness in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately east of Hull city centre. It lies to the north of the A1033 road at the crossroads of the B1240 and B1362 roads. It is pa ...

, Yorkshire. At the 1741 general election, he was initially defeated, but was seated on petition on 4 March 1742. Pro- Walpole at first, Berkeley was alienated from him by his brother Lord Berkeley's dismissal from the post of

First Lord of the Admiralty The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...

on the accession of

George II George II or 2 may refer to: People * George II of Antioch (seventh century AD) * George II of Armenia (late ninth century) * George II of Abkhazia (916–960) * Patriarch George II of Alexandria (1021–1051) * George II of Georgia (1072–1089) * ...

, and switched loyalties to Pulteney.

Family and legacy

He married

Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk Henrietta Howard (born Henrietta Hobart; 168926 July 1767) was a mistress of King George II of Great Britain and the sister of John Hobart, 1st Earl of Buckinghamshire. Biography Henrietta was one of three daughters of Sir Henry Hobart, 4th ...

, on 26 June 1735, as her second husband and nine months after she ceased to be George II's mistress and – though they had no surviving children – the marriage was far happier than her first. He had probably met her through his sister Lady Elizabeth Germain, a friend of Henrietta, but the reasons for Henrrietta's choice of second husband were far from clear to court commentators. One of them, Lord Hervey, described him as: :neither young, handsome, healthy, nor rich, which made people wonder what induced Lady Suffolk's prudence to deviate into this unaccountable piece of folly: some imagined it was to persuade the world that nothing criminal had ever passed between her and the king, others that it was to pique the king. If this was her reason, she succeeded very ill in her design.John, Lord Hervey, Some materials towards memoirs of the reign of King George II, ed. R. Sedgwick, new edn, 3 vols. (1952), 2.10 However, in a letter from Elizabeth Germain to

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish Satire, satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whig (British political party), Whigs, then for the Tories (British political party), Tories), poe ...

on 12 July 1735, Elizabeth described Lady Suffolk as :indeed four or five years older than eorge but for all that he has appeared to all the world, as well as to me, to have long had (that is, ever since she has been a widow, so pray do not mistake me) a most violent passion for her, as well as esteem and value for her numberless good qualities.

References

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry
*John Wilson Croker, ed., ''Letters to and from Henrietta, countess of Suffolk, and her second husband, the Hon. George Berkeley:'' ''from 1712 to 1767'', (London: J. Murray), 1824. Google Books
Vol. 1 Vol. 2
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berkeley, George 1690s births 1746 deaths Year of birth uncertain

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 Presiden ...

People educated at Westminster School, London Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Younger sons of earls Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Dover British MPs 1715–1722 British MPs 1722–1727 British MPs 1727–1734 British MPs 1734–1741 British MPs 1741–1747