Miles Barne (22 May 1746 – 8 September 1825) was a British

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

Dunwich Dunwich is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. It is in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB around north-east of London, south of Southwold and north of Leiston, on the North Sea coast. In the Anglo-Saxon period, Dunwich was t ...

, a

Pocket Borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorat ...

in the county of

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, between 1791 and 1796 and

High Sheriff of Suffolk This is a list of Sheriffs and High Sheriffs of Suffolk. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown and is appointed annually (in March) by the Crown. The Sheriff was originally the principal law enforcement officer in the county a ...

from 1790 to 1791. Barne's father had established himself as co-proprietor of the Borough and controlled one seat; on his father's death, Barne declined to fill the vacancy, and so it went to his younger brother instead. However, in 1791, his brother resigned and Barne reluctantly took up the seat, serving until 1796.

Early life and legal career

Barne was the first son of Miles Barne of

Sotterley Sotterley, originally ''Southern-lea'' from its situation south of the river, Suckling, A.I., (1846). 'Sotterley', in ''The History and Antiquities of the County of Suffolk'', 2 vols (W.S. Cowell, Ipswich 1846), Ipp. 81–96(British History Onli ...

, a Member of Parliament for Dunwich, and the only with his first wife, Elizabeth Elwick, daughter of Nathaniel Elwick of May Place, Kent, a

Governor of Madras This is a list of the governors, agents, and presidents of colonial Madras, initially of the English East India Company, up to the end of British colonial rule in 1947. English Agents In 1639, the grant of Madras to the English was finalized be ...

. He was admitted at

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite ...

in 1762 and matriculated in 1763, before being admitted to

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

in 1764.

Member of Parliament

Dunwich was a Parliamentary constituency in Suffolk, which had largely fallen into the sea and had a dwindling population by the late eighteenth century; it was home to roughly 40 voters. Thus, the voters could be compelled by their land-lords to vote for the land-lord's favoured candidate. The Barne family, who had their seat in Sotterley, near

Beccles Beccles ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . The town is shown on the milestone as from London via the A145 and A12 roads, north-east of London as the crow fli ...

, in Suffolk, had become the leading co-proprietors of Dunwich (along with the Vanneck family) and so controlled the vote. When Barne's father, Miles, had resigned from the seat in 1777, Barne declined to take it up and his brother, Barne Barne, served instead. However, his brother's ambition and service was driven by his desire for an office and, when he was appointed a Tax Commissioner in 1791, the seat became vacant. With Miles Barne now having little choice, he was returned as Dunwich's Member of Parliament in 1791. He had reluctantly accepted the post of High Sheriff for 1790–91 and much preferred the living of a country squire than a public servant. Despite being recorded as a supporter of Pitt, he took up the role with little activity and is only recorded voting on a handful of occasions during his five years as M.P. After Parliament's dissolution at the end of 1795, he retired on health grounds.

Later life

Unlike his kin, he was motivated neither by political service, nor reward. He did not ask, and did not receive, any offices or sinecures for his time as an M.P. Even as a squire, he was content to leave the business of the family's estate to his half-brothers. According to his obituary, in the ''Gentleman's Magazine'', he spent the years after retiring from politics "almost constantly at Sotterley, in retirement, seeing very few persons except his near connections and relations." He died, unmarried, on 8 September 1825 and his estate passed to his half-brother, Barne Barne.Stokes (1986a)
''The Gentleman's Magazine''
(1825, pt. ii), p. 280-1

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Burke, J. (1837)
''A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry''
volume I. * Stokes, W. (1986a)
"Barne, Miles (1746-1825), of Sotterley Hall, Suff. and May Place, Crayford, Kent."
''The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820'', ed. R. Thorne * Stokes, W. (1986b)
Dunwich
''The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820'', ed. R. Thorne * Venn, J. and Venn, J.A. (1940)
''Alumni Cantabrigienses''
volume II, part I. {{DEFAULTSORT:Barne, Miles 1746 births 1825 deaths Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge Members of Lincoln's Inn Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1790–1796 Miles High Sheriffs of Suffolk