Thomas Wharton, 1st Marquess of Wharton PC (August 1648 – 12 April 1715) was an English nobleman and politician. A man of great charm and political ability, he was also notorious for his debauched lifestyle.

Background

He was the son of

Philip Wharton, 4th Baron Wharton Philip Wharton, 4th Baron Wharton (18 April 1613 – 4 February 1696) was an English soldier, politician and diplomat. He was a Parliamentarian during the English Civil War. Wharton was the son of Sir Thomas Wharton of Aske Hall and his wife ...

, and his second wife, Jane Goodwin, only daughter of Colonel Arthur Goodwin of Upper Winchendon, Buckinghamshire, and heiress to the extensive Goodwin estates in Buckinghamshire, including Winchendon, Wooburn, Waddeston, Weston, and other properties.

Career

In his long political career, he 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 o ...

for seventeen years and spearheaded the Whig opposition to

King James II James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Re ...

's government, which later developed the two-party political system under Queen Anne. Before the Glorious Revolution he was in close contact with a group of army officers conspiring against King James, including his brother Captain

Henry Wharton Henry Wharton (9 November 1664 – 5 March 1695) was an English writer and librarian. Life Wharton was descended from Thomas, 2nd Baron Wharton (1520–1572), being a son of the Rev. Edmund Wharton, vicar of Worstead, Norfolk. Born at Worstead ...

. In 1689 he was sworn of the Privy Council and made Comptroller of the Household by

King William III 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 the ...

, establishing the link between the royal position and

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

for the first time, although William is said to have distrusted him. He went out of office in 1702, after the accession of

Anne Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

, who disliked him intensely, and took great pleasure in personally taking his staff of office from him, but in 1706, he was created Earl of Wharton and Viscount Winchendon in the Peerage of England. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1708–1710. He was replaced by the Tory

Duke of Ormonde The peerage title Earl of Ormond and the related titles Duke of Ormonde and Marquess of Ormonde have a long and complex history. An earldom of Ormond has been created three times in the Peerage of Ireland. History of Ormonde titles The earldom ...

when the Harley Ministry came to power. He supported the

No Peace Without Spain No Peace Without Spain was a popular British political slogan of the early eighteenth century. It referred to the ongoing War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) in which Britain was a leading participant. It implied that no peace treaty cou ...

motion in 1711. The following year he attacked the government's creation of

Harley's Dozen {{short description, Event in British politics Harley's Dozen were twelve new peerages created in December 1711 by the British Tory government of Robert Harley which was struggling to gain a majority in the Whig-dominated House of Lords. This cam ...

, twelve new Tory peers in order to secure passage of their

peace agreement A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, which formally ends a state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an agreement to stop hostilities; a surrend ...

Character and scandals

Anne's antipathy to him was partly the product of her dislike for the

Whig Junto The Whig Junto is the name given to a group of leading Whigs who were seen to direct the management of the Whig Party and often the government, during the reigns of William III and Anne. The Whig Junto proper consisted of John Somers, later ...

, the "five tyrannising lords", which William III had shared to some extent, but owed far more to his debauched and irreligious character. Even by the standards of

Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

rakes, Wharton was considered a man "void of moral or religious principles". The most striking charge was that in 1682, when drunk, he had broken into the church in Great Barrington, Gloucestershire, urinated against the communion table and defecated in the pulpit. The story is probably true: certainly in 1705, during a debate on Church matters in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

, Wharton was left speechless when

Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, (20 February 1632 – 26 July 1712), was a prominent English politician. Under King Charles II (and known at the time as Lord Danby), he was the leading figure in the government for around five years i ...

reminded him of it. Despite his faults, he has been described as a man of immense charm, a fine public speaker and a "political organiser of genius". As the dominant politician in Aylesbury, he was partly responsible for the landmark constitutional case of '' Ashby v White'', which established the principle that ''for every wrong there is a remedy''. It is rumoured that Wharton had taken Dorothy Townshend, née Walpole, as a lover prior to her marriage. Rumours suggest that her later husband,

Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, (; 18 April 167421 June 1738) was an English Whig statesman. He served for a decade as Secretary of State for the Northern Department, 1714–1717, 1721–1730. He directed British foreign policy in c ...

may have either killed her or faked her funeral and hid her away at

Raynham Hall Raynham Hall is a country house in Norfolk, England. For nearly 400 years it has been the seat of the Townshend family. The hall gave its name to the five estate villages, known as The Raynhams, and is reported to be haunted, providing the scen ...

. This rumour is based on the alleged infidelity of Dorothy during their marriage. She is also rumoured to haunt Raynham, known as the

Brown Lady of Raynham Hall The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall is a ghost that reportedly haunts Raynham Hall in Norfolk, England. It became one of the most famous hauntings in the United Kingdom when photographers from '' Country Life'' magazine claimed to have captured its ...

. Macaulay's History of England describes Wharton in prose:

Last years

Under

George I of Great Britain George I (George Louis; ; 28 May 1660 – 11 June 1727) was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 and ruler of the Electorate of Hanover within the Holy Roman Empire from 23 January 1698 until his death in 1727. He was the first ...

, he returned to favour. In January 1715, he was created Marquess of Catherlough,

Earl of Rathfarnham Baron Wharton is a title in the Peerage of England, originally granted by letters patent to the heirs male of the 1st Baron, which was forfeited in 1729 when the last male-line heir was declared an outlaw. The Barony was erroneously revived in ...

, and Baron Trim in the

Peerage of Ireland 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 divisi ...

, and in February 1715

Marquess of Wharton A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

and Marquess of Malmesbury in the Peerage of Great Britain. When he died suddenly in April 1715 he was buried in Upper Winchendon, Buckinghamshire. He is the author of the original lyrics of ''

Lillibullero "Lillibullero" (also spelled Lillibulero, Lilliburlero, or Lilli Burlero) is a march attributed to Henry Purcell that became popular in England at the time of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Background Henry Purcell is alleged to have c ...

'', which "rhymed King James out of England".

Family

Wharton married firstly on 16 September 1673 Anne, or Nan, Lee (d 29 October 1685 aged 26), younger daughter of Sir Henry Lee, 3rd Bt. (d. 1659), an elder half-brother of the famous libertine poet

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1 April 1647 – 26 July 1680) was an English poet and courtier of King Charles II's Restoration court. The Restoration reacted against the "spiritual authoritarianism" of the Puritan era. Rochester embodi ...

; she had some reputation as a poet and dramatist. They had no issue together. Her sister Eleanora Lee married James Bertie, Lord Norreys; their cousin was

Edward Lee, 1st Earl of Lichfield Edward Henry Lee, 1st Earl of Lichfield (4 February 1663 – 14 July 1716) was an English peer, the son of a baronet, who at 14 years of age married one of the illegitimate daughters of King Charles II, Charlotte Lee, prior to which he was made ...

. Although her husband may have infected her with syphilis, Anne Wharton left him her fortune. Her grandmother Anne St. John, Countess of Rochester tried to regain her fortune from the Whartons with little effect. He married secondly Lucy Loftus, only daughter and heiress of

Adam Loftus, 1st Viscount Lisburne Adam Loftus, 1st Viscount Lisburne (1647 – 15 September 1691) was an Anglo-Irish peer and military commander. He was the second son of Sir Arthur Loftus of Rathfarnham, co. Dublin and Lady Dorothy Boyle, daughter of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl o ...

and Lucy Brydges. They had one son

Philip Wharton, 1st Duke of Wharton Philip Wharton, 1st Duke of Wharton (21 December 1698 – 31 May 1731) was a powerful Jacobite politician, was one of the few people in English history, and the first since the 15th century, to have been raised to a dukedom whilst still a mino ...

, and two daughters, Lucy Morice and Jane Holt.Mosley p. 899 On his son's death without heirs, all his titles became extinct, except the Barony which passed to Jane Holt.

References

Succession boxes

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Wharton, Thomas Wharton, 1st Marquess Of 1648 births 1715 deaths Lord-Lieutenants of Buckinghamshire Lord-Lieutenants of Oxfordshire Lords Privy Seal Marquesses in the Peerage of Great Britain Members of the Privy Council of England English MPs 1661–1679 English MPs 1679 English MPs 1680–1681 English MPs 1681 English MPs 1685–1687 English MPs 1689–1690 English MPs 1690–1695 English MPs 1695–1698 Members of the Kit-Kat Club Catherlough Peers of Ireland created by George I Lords Lieutenant of Ireland Barons Wharton