Henry Furnese (after 1688 – 30 August 1756), of Gunnersbury House, Middlesex, was a British merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1720 and 1756. Furnese was the only son of George Furnese, an East India Company factor. He was apprenticed to Moses Berenger, a London merchant, and became a member of the Lisbon factory. Some time after September 1709, he succeeded to the estates of his father who died insane. Gunnersbury House

Furnese was returned unopposed as Member of Parliament 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 ...

with government support in a by-election on 20 December. In 1722, he bought Lathom Hall, near Wigan and declared himself a candidate for Wigan at the 1722 general election, but gave up before the poll. Instead he was returned unopposed again for Dover. In 1723 and 1729 he obtained contracts for remitting money to the garrisons in Gibraltar and Minorca. At the 1727 general election there was a contest at Dover and he was re-elected as MP. However at the

1734 general election Events January– March * January 8 – Salzburgers, Lutherans who were expelled by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Salzburg, Austria, in October 1731, set sail for the British Colony of Georgia in America. * February 16 – T ...

he was defeated in the poll. He was returned unopposed at a by-election on 18 May 1738 as MP for Morpeth which his friend

Lord Morpeth George William Frederick Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle, (18 April 1802– 5 December 1864), styled Viscount Morpeth from 1825 to 1848, was a British statesman, orator, and writer. Life Carlisle was born in Westminster, London, the eldest son o ...

had vacated on succeeding to a peerage. In 1739 he bought

Gunnersbury Park Gunnersbury Park is a park in the London Borough of Hounslow between Acton, Brentford, Chiswick and Ealing, West London, England. Purchased for the nation from the Rothschild family, it was opened to the public by Neville Chamberlain, then ...

in Hounslow, London from Lord Hobart. He became an associate of William Pulteney, and voted with the Opposition against the Spanish convention in 1739 and for the place bill in 1740. In

1741 Events January–March * January 13 – Lanesborough, Massachusetts is created as a township. * February 13 – Sir Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, popularizes the term "the balance of power" in a spe ...

he was returned on the Furnese interest for

New Romney New Romney is a market town in Kent, England, on the edge of Romney Marsh, an area of flat, rich agricultural land reclaimed from the sea after the harbour began to silt up. New Romney, one of the original Cinque Ports, was once a sea port, w ...

, which he represented for the rest of his life. When Walpole fell in 1742, Furnese was elected a member of the secret committee and was one of Pulteney's followers who went over to the Administration and obtained offices. Furnese was appointed Secretary to the Treasury in July 1742. His appointment was referenced in many satires attacking Pulteney and he resigned from the secret committee and post in December 1742. He remained in opposition, voting against the Government in all recorded divisions and was returned again for New Romney at the

1747 Events January–March * January 31 – The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital. * February 11 – King George's War: A combined French and Indian force, commanded by Captain Nicolas Antoine II Coul ...

and

1754 Events January–March * January 28 – Horace Walpole, in a letter to Horace Mann, coins the word ''serendipity''. * February 22 – Expecting an attack by Portuguese-speaking militias in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Pla ...

general elections. He was appointed as Lord of the Treasury from 1755 until his death. Furnese died unmarried on 30 August 1756. Gunnersbury house and estate were purchased from his sister Elizabeth Pearce in 1760 for Princess Amelia, the daughter of King George II.

References

17th-century births Year of birth uncertain 1756 deaths 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 {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub