William Grimston, 1st Viscount Grimston (31 December 1684 – 15 October 1756), of

Gorhambury Old Gorhambury House located near St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, is a ruined Elizabethan mansion, a leading and early example of the Elizabethan prodigy house. It was built in 1563–68 by Nicholas Bacon (courtier), Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord ...

, St Albans, Hertfordshire, was a British landowner 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. ...

between 1710 and 1734. Grimston was born as William Luckyn, the younger son of Sir William Luckyn, 3rd Baronet, and his wife Mary Sherrington. In 1700 he succeeded to the estates, including Gorhambury near St Albans, of his great-uncle

Sir Samuel Grimston, 3rd Baronet Sir Samuel Grimston, 3rd Baronet (7 January 1643 – October 1700) of Gorhambury House, Hertfordshire was an English politician. Early life He was born 7 January 1643. Grimston was the second and only one of the six sons of Sir Harbottle G ...

, of Bradfield, and assumed the surname of Grimston in lieu of Luckyn. In 1705 he published a play 'The Lawyer's Fortune or Love in a Hollow Tree'. He married Jean Cooke, daughter of James Cooke, on 14 August 1706. Grimston was returned unopposed as

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

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

in the 1710 general election and was elected in a contest in 1713. His fortunes at the constituency were affected by the competitive ambitions of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough who also had an interest. Although he won the seat in 1715 he was defeated in 1722. In 1719 he was raised to 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 ...

as Baron Dunboyne and Viscount Grimston. As these were Irish peerages they did not prohibit Grimston from sitting in the British House of Commons. He regained the seat at St Albans in 1727 but lost it again in 1734. In 1737 he succeeded his elder brother Sir Harbottle Luckyn as fifth Baronet. His feud with the duchess continued until her death as they each tried to prevent the return of each other's candidates at St Albans in subsequent elections. Although Grimston had tried to suppress all copies of his play, in 1736 the Duchess published a version of it with disparaging notes to mock him. Grimston died in October 1756, aged 72. He and his wife had ten sons and three daughters. He 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 (disambiguat ...

. Lady Grimston died in 1765.

References

* *Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, {{DEFAULTSORT:Grimston, William Grimston, 1st Viscount 1684 births 1756 deaths Viscounts in the Peerage of Ireland Peers of Ireland created by George I Baronets in the Baronetage of England

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1710–1713 British MPs 1713–1715 British MPs 1715–1722 British MPs 1727–1734