Sir Henry Hobart, 4th Baronet (1657–1698) was an English Whig politician and baronet.

Family

Henry Hobart was the eldest son to

Sir John Hobart, 3rd Baronet Sir John Hobart, 3rd Baronet (20 March 1628 – 22 August 1683) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1654 and 1683. Hobart was the son of Sir Miles Hobart (son of Sir Henry Hobart, 1 ...

and his first wife Mary Hampden, daughter to

John Hampden John Hampden (24 June 1643) was an English landowner and politician whose opposition to arbitrary taxes imposed by Charles I made him a national figure. An ally of Parliamentarian leader John Pym, and cousin to Oliver Cromwell, he was one of th ...

. He was knighted at

Blickling Blickling is a village and civil parish in the Broadland district of Norfolk, England, about north-west of Aylsham. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 136 and covers , falling to 113 at the 2011 Census. Since the 17th century t ...

King Charles II of England Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of King of England, England, Scotland and King of Ireland, Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II ...

in 1671 and succeeded his father as baronet in 1683. Hobart was educated at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

. On 9 July 1684, he married Elizabeth Maynard, eldest daughter to Sir Joseph Maynard, and had by her a son and three daughters. His eldest daughter

Henrietta Henrietta may refer to: * Henrietta (given name), a feminine given name, derived from the male name Henry Places * Henrietta Island in the Arctic Ocean * Henrietta, Mauritius * Henrietta, Tasmania, a locality in Australia United States * Henrie ...

was a mistress of

King George II of Great Britain , house = Hanover , religion = Protestant , father = George I of Great Britain , mother = Sophia Dorothea of Celle , birth_date = 30 October / 9 November 1683 , birth_place = Herrenhausen Palace,Cannon. or Leine ...

. The second daughter Catherine married Lieutenant-General Charles Churchill. Lady Hobart died in 1701. Hobart was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

, later raised to the peerage as

Earl of Buckinghamshire Earl of Buckinghamshire is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1746 for John Hobart, 1st Baron Hobart. History The Hobart family descends from Henry Hobart, who served as Attorney General and Lord Chief Justice of ...

Career

Henry Hobart was

Gentleman of the Horse Gentleman of the Horse was a position in the stables department of the British Royal Court, subordinate only to the Master of the Horse. It existed from 1693 until abolished in 1782, and carried a salary of £256. The post was revived in 1828, wi ...

King William III of England William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 16508 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from th ...

and fought under him in the

Battle of the Boyne The Battle of the Boyne ( ga, Cath na Bóinne ) was a battle in 1690 between the forces of the deposed King James II of England and Ireland, VII of Scotland, and those of King William III who, with his wife Queen Mary II (his cousin and ...

, and a year later was appointed Vice-Admiral of Norfolk. Hobart was a

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

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

in the

English House of Commons The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England (which incorporated Wales) from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of ...

between 1681 and 1685. He represented

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , in 2015 had a population of 24,340 ...

from January to February 1689 and subsequently

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

until 1690. In 1694, he was elected for

Bere Alston Bere Alston is a village in West Devon in the county of Devon in England. It forms part of the civil parish of Bere Ferrers. History and geography With a population of about 2,000, the village lies in the Bere peninsula, between the river ...

, a seat he held until the following year, when he was returned again for Norfolk until the July–August 1698 election, which he fought and lost.

Death

On 20 August, after the 1698 election, Hobart fought a duel with

Oliver Le Neve Oliver Le Neve (1662 – November 1711) was a Norfolk country squire and landowning sportsman who lived most of his life at Witchingham Hall in Great Witchingham, Norfolk, England, and is significant for his 1698 mortal duel with Sir Henry Hoba ...

on Cawston Heath, and was mortally wounded. Le Neve of Witchingham Hall,

Great Witchingham Great Witchingham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk about north-west of Norwich. It covers an area of and had a population of 564 in 235 households at the 2001 census, including Lenwade but reducing to a populatio ...

, fought left-handed and was wounded in the arm by Hobart who had a reputation as a good swordsman. However, Le Neve struck back and injured his opponent so badly that he died the next day at Blickling. As there were no seconds or witnesses, the duel was illegal. Le Neve fled to Holland but returned to England two years later, when he was tried and acquitted.

Nicolson, Adam Adam Nicolson, (born 12 September 1957) is an English author who has written about history, landscape, great literature and the sea. He is also the 5th Baron Carnock, but does not use the title. He is noted for his books ''Sea Room'' (about t ...

(2012); ''Gentry: Six Hundred Years of a Peculiarly English Class'', Part III: The Great Century 1610–1710, "Honour: The le Neves, Great Witchingham, Norfolk",

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

. Rye, Francis, Rye, Amy; ''Calendar of Correspondence and Documents Relating to the Family of Oliver Le Neve, of Witchingham, Norfolk, 1675-1743'', Norwich, A. H. Goose, (1895). Reprint Rarebooksclub.com (2012). Hobart was buried in the Blickling family vault. A plinth with an urn, called the Duel Stone, which commemorates the duel, stands in a

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

plot on Norwich Road in Cawston.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hobart, Henry 1650s births 1698 deaths Year of birth uncertain Baronets in the Baronetage of England Duelling fatalities English admirals Williamite military personnel of the Williamite War in Ireland

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

English MPs 1681 English MPs 1689–1690 English MPs 1690–1695 English MPs 1695–1698 Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge People from Blickling Members of Parliament for Norfolk Members of the Parliament of England for Bere Alston English duellists