Willoughby Bertie, 4th Earl of Abingdon (16 January 1740 – 26 September 1799), styled Lord Norreys from 1745 to 1760, was an English peer and music patron. Bertie was born in

Gainsborough, Lincolnshire Gainsborough is a market town, inland port and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The town population was 20,842 at the 2011 census, and estimated at 23,243 in 2019. It lies on the east bank of the River Trent ...

, the second eldest son of

Willoughby Bertie, 3rd Earl of Abingdon Willoughby Bertie, 3rd Earl of Abingdon (28 November 1692 – 10 June 1760), of Wytham Abbey, Berkshire and Rycote, Oxfordshire, was an English landowner and Tory politician who sat briefly in the House of Commons in 1715. Early life Bertie was ...

and Anna Maria Collins. On 29 January 1759, he matriculated at

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

and received his MA on 29 May 1761. Bertie was a music

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

and composer, as well as a political writer. His brother-in-law

Giovanni Gallini Giovanni Andrea Battista Gallini (born Florence, Italy, 7 January 1728, died London, 5 January 1805), later known as Sir John Andrew Gallini, was an Italian people, Italian dancer, choreographer and impresario who was made a "Knight of the Order o ...

brought him into contact with J.C. Bach and

Carl Friedrich Abel Carl Friedrich Abel (22 December 1723 – 20 June 1787) was a German composer of the Classical era. He was a renowned player of the viola da gamba, and produced significant compositions for that instrument. Life Abel was born in Köthen, ...

, and he was subsequently very involved in their careers. During his time in England (1791–1792, 1794–1795), Abingdon was a patron of

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...

's, who may have encouraged him to compose. Abingdon is credited with the composition of one hundred and twenty musical works.

Family life

He and his family lived at

Rycote Rycote is a hamlet southwest of Thame in Oxfordshire. The Oxfordshire Way long-distance path passes through. Saint Michael's chapel Richard and Sybil Quartermayne, lord and lady of the manor of Rycote, founded Saint Michael's chapel as a cha ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

and in 1769 he funded the construction of the

Swinford Toll Bridge Swinford Toll Bridge is a privately owned toll bridge across the Thames in Oxfordshire, England. It crosses the river just above Eynsham Lock, between the village of Eynsham on the north-west bank and the hamlet of Swinford on the south-east bank ...

across the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

near

Eynsham Eynsham is an English village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Oxfordshire, about north-west of Oxford and east of Witney. The United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 4,648. It was estimated at 5,0 ...

. Bertie bred the famous racehorse

Potoooooooo Potoooooooo or variations of Pot-8-Os (1773 – November 1800) was an 18th-century thoroughbred racehorse who won over 30 races and defeated some of the greatest racehorses of his time. He went on to be an important sire, whose leading runners i ...

, considered one of the finest racehorses of the 18th century. The unusual name came from instructions to his stable boy to write the horse's intended name, Potato, on its feed bin, and the boy instead wrote out "Pot" with eight o's. The joke greatly amused Bertie and he decided to make the name official. Abingdon earned himself the reputation of a political maverick. His obituary in the ''Gentleman's Magazine'' remarked that "his frequent speeches in the House of Peers were peculiarly eccentric". An outspoken critic of Lord North and his administration, he rigorously defended the liberties of the American colonies, yet denounced the French Revolution as a threat to "the Peace, the Order, the Subordination, the Happiness of the whole habitable Globe." He argued that the movement for the abolition of the slave trade was simply the result of a "new philosophy" inspired by the new French republic. When his elder brother James died in a fire at Rycote in 1745, Bertie became his father's heir, succeeding him as 4th Earl of Abingdon on 10 June 1760. In 1761, he sold the manor of

West Lavington, Wiltshire West Lavington is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, on the north edge of Salisbury Plain, on the A360 road between Devizes and Salisbury, about south of Devizes. The parish includes the hamlet of Littleton Panell. The parish w ...

to Robert Palmer and Thomas Walker, and in 1762, he sold the manor of

Frilsham Frilsham is a village and civil parish from Newbury, in the English county of Berkshire. Geography Frilsham is near the Berkshire Downs, with the M4 to the north. The nucleated village is on a hill, with the parish church of St Widefride ...

, Berkshire to

George Amyand Sir George Amyand, 1st Baronet (26 September 1720 – 16 August 1766) was a British Whig politician, physician and merchant. Origins He was the second son of Claudius Amyand, Surgeon-in-Ordinary to King George II, by his wife Mary Rabache, a ...

. He married Charlotte Warren, daughter of Admiral Sir Peter Warren, on 7 July 1768. Lady Abingdon died on 28 January 1794. They had seven children: *Willoughby Bertie, Lord Norreys (8 February 1779 – 20 February 1779) *Willoughby Bertie, Lord Norreys (born 9 April 1781), died in infancy *

Montagu Bertie, 5th Earl of Abingdon Montagu Bertie, 5th Earl of Abingdon (30 April 1784 – 16 October 1854), styled Lord Norreys until 1799, was an English peer. Background Bertie was the third son of Willoughby Bertie, 4th Earl of Abingdon, and Charlotte Warren, a daughter of Pet ...

(30 April 1784 – 16 October 1854) *Capt. Hon. Willoughby Bertie (24 June 1787 – 19 December 1810), married Catherine Jane Saunders on 26 November 1808, lost commanding ; posthumous son Willoughby Vere Bertie (20 April 1811 – 26 July 1812) *Lady Caroline Bertie (17 October 1788 - 12 March 1870), married

Charles John Baillie-Hamilton Charles John Baillie-Hamilton (4 January 1800 – 24 August 1865) was a British Conservative Party politician. A member of the Baillie-Hamilton family headed by the Earl of Haddington, he was the son of the Venerable Charles Baillie, Archdeacon ...

on 23 January 1821 *Hon. Peregrine Bertie (30 July 1790 – 17 October 1849) *Rev. Hon. Frederic Bertie (12 February 1793 – 4 February 1868), married on 17 October 1795 to Lady Georgiana Anne Emily Kerr, daughter of Lord Mark Kerr Abingdon was plagued by financial problems from the moment he inherited the earldom. With his own extravagant lifestyle doing little to alleviate his problems, he died insolvent in 1799. Much of his estate at

Westbury, Wiltshire Westbury is a town and civil parish in the west of the English county of Wiltshire, below the northwestern edge of Salisbury Plain, about south of Trowbridge and a similar distance north of Warminster. Originally a market town, Westbury was kn ...

, was sold off over a period from 1777 until his death. The manor of Weston-on-the-Green in Oxfordshire, which he inherited from his brother Captain Peregrine Bertie in 1790, was entailed by Peregrine as a

secundogeniture A secundogeniture (from la, secundus "following, second," and "born") was a dependent territory given to a younger son of a princely house and his descendants, creating a cadet branch. This was a special form of inheritance in which the second a ...

and passed to his younger sons, eventually becoming the property of the Rev. Frederic Bertie.

Abingdon Square Park Abingdon Square Park is located in the New York City borough of Manhattan in Greenwich Village. The park is bordered by Eighth Avenue, Bank Street, Hudson Street and West 12th Street. Abingdon Square Park is one of New York City's oldest pa ...

in Manhattan is named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abingdon, Willoughby Bertie, 4th Earl of 1740 births 1799 deaths Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford 4 English classical composers People from Gainsborough, Lincolnshire Classical-period composers People from Thame Willoughby English patrons of music Musicians who were peers 18th-century classical composers 18th-century British male musicians English male classical composers 18th-century philanthropists