Sir Charles Davers, 6th Baronet (4 June 1737 – 4 June 1806) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer 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. ...

from 1768 to 1802.

Early life and military career

Davers was the second surviving son of

Sir Jermyn Davers, 4th Baronet Sir Jermyn Davers, 4th Baronet (c.1686 – 20 February 1743), of Rougham and Rushbrooke, Suffolk, was an English landowner and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1722 to 1743. Early life Davers was the second son of Sir Robe ...

, MP and Margaretta Green.William Betham, ''The Baronetage of England'' (1803), p.58. He was brought up at

Rushbrooke Hall Rushbrooke Hall was a British stately home in Rushbrooke, Suffolk.GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Rushbrooke, in St Edmundsbury and Suffolk , Map and description, ''A Vision of Britain through Time''. http://www.vision ...

in Suffolk and educated at

King Edward VI School (Bury St Edmunds) King Edward VI School is a co-educational comprehensive secondary school in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The school in its present form was created in 1972 by the merging of King Edward VI Grammar School, with the Silver Jubilee Girls Sch ...

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 ...

, where he graduated in 1755. He then undertook the

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...

. Davers became an officer in the British Army in 1758, being commissioned into the

44th (East Essex) Regiment of Foot The 44th Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment in the British Army, raised in 1741. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot to form the Essex Regiment in 1881. History Early history The regime ...

. He served in North America during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

. In January 1761 he was promoted to the rank of Captain while in the service of the 99th Regiment of Foot. He was garrisoned in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in 1766 and was promoted to Major.

Political career

In 1763 Davers inherited his brother's

baronetcy A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

and estates. In the 1768 general election he was elected as the

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 Weymouth. At the 1774 general election he was returned as MP for

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – ...

. Davers held his seat in the

due to his close personal alliance with Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton. Grafton encouraged him to cultivate his family interest in Bury at the expense of Davers' brother-in-law,

Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol, (1 August 1730 – 8 July 1803), was an 18th-century Anglican prelate. Elected Bishop of Cloyne in 1767 and translated to the see of Derry in 1768, Hervey served as Lord Bishop of Derry unti ...

. Davers publicly aligned himself against

William Pitt the Younger William Pitt the Younger (28 May 175923 January 1806) was a British statesman, the youngest and last prime minister of Great Britain (before the Acts of Union 1800) and then first prime minister of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Ire ...

, but did not become a Whig and retained his independence.

Personal life

Davers lived at Rushbrooke Hall with Frances Treice, by whom he had five illegitimate sons and three illegitimate daughters. He was rumoured to have earlier married Miss Coutts, a planter's daughter, in America while serving in the army, and to have had a son, Rushbrook. On his death in 1806 he was buried at St Nicholas Church, Rushbrooke. He left his estates to his nephew,

Frederick Hervey, 1st Marquess of Bristol Frederick William Hervey, 1st Marquess of Bristol (2 October 1769 – 15 February 1859), styled Lord Hervey between 1796 and 1803 and known as The Earl of Bristol between 1803 and 1826, was a British peer. Biography Early life Frederick Willia ...

. On the presumption of there being no surviving legitimate male heirs, his baronetcy became extinct.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davers, Charles, Sir, 6th Baronet 1737 births 1806 deaths Politicians from Bury St Edmunds People educated at King Edward VI School, Bury St Edmunds Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English landowners 18th-century English people 44th Regiment of Foot officers Baronets in the Baronetage of England British Army personnel of the Seven Years' War Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1784–1790 British MPs 1790–1796 British MPs 1796–1800 UK MPs 1801–1802