James Grimston, 2nd Viscount Grimston (9 October 1711 – 15 December 1773) was a British peer and

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 ...

Grimston was the eldest surviving son of

William Grimston, 1st Viscount Grimston William Grimston, 1st Viscount Grimston (31 December 1684 – 15 October 1756), of Gorhambury, St Albans, Hertfordshire, was a British landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1710 and 1734. Grimston was born as William L ...

, and Jean Cooke. He was elected to 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 ...

for St Albans in 1754, a seat he held until 1761. He appears never to have spoken in the House. In 1756 he succeeded his father in the viscountcy but as this was an

Irish peerage The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divis ...

it did not prohibit him from sitting in the House of Commons. He also inherited Gorhambury House (now Old Gorhambury House), near St Albans, Hertfordshire. Lord Grimston married Mary Bucknall, daughter of William Bucknall of

Oxhey Oxhey is a suburb of Watford, under the jurisdiction of the Watford Borough Council of the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is located at and is part of the Watford. It is in the Oxhey Ward of Watford Borough Council. Oxhey grew during th ...

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

and Mary famous portrait as it, in 1746, and had eight children, 3 sons and 5 daughters. He died in December 1773, aged 62, and was succeeded in his titles by his son

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

. Lady Grimston died in 1778. His second son was the politician

William Grimston William Grimston (1750–1814) was an English politician. From 1797 he was known as William Bucknall. Life He was the second son of James Grimston, 2nd Viscount Grimston and his wife Mary Bucknall, and the younger brother of James Grimston, 3rd ...

(1750-1814), who later changed his name to William Bucknall on inheriting the estate of his mother's brother James Askell Bucknall. There is a famous portrait of William's only daughter Sophia as

Psyche Psyche (''Psyché'' in French) is the Greek term for "soul" (ψυχή). Psyche may also refer to: Psychology * Psyche (psychology), the totality of the human mind, conscious and unconscious * ''Psyche'', an 1846 book about the unconscious by Car ...

, painted by

Henry Hoppner Meyer ::''Also not to be confused with his son, Bernard Francis Hoppner Meyer (20 April 1811-3 June 1888), also an artist.'' Henry Meyer (12 June 1780 - 28 May 1847) was an English portrait painter, more known as a stipple and mezzotint engraver. ...

. Lord Grimston's daughter Mary married William Hale, grandson of the eminent judge

Sir Bernard Hale Sir Bernard Hale (1677–1729) was an English-born barrister and judge who became Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. Two of his sons became Generals in the British Army.Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921'' London John Murray 1 ...

Notes

References

*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grimston, James Grimston, 2nd Viscount 1711 births 1773 deaths Viscounts in the Peerage of Ireland Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1754–1761