George Byng DL JP (17 May 1764 – 10 January 1847), of

Wrotham Park Wrotham Park (pronounced , ) is a neo-Palladian English country house in the parish of South Mimms, Hertfordshire. It lies south of the town of Potters Bar, from Hyde Park Corner in central London. The house was designed by Isaac Ware in 17 ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

(now Hertfordshire), and of Wentworth House,

5, St James's Square 5, St James's Square (anciently Wentworth House) is a Grade II* listed historic townhouse in London, England, built 1748–51 by William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford (1722–1791) to the design of Matthew Brettingham the Elder. It remained t ...

, London, was a British Whig politician.

Origins

He was the eldest son and heir of George Byng (1735-1789) (eldest son of Robert Byng (1703-1740), third son of Admiral

George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington Admiral of the Fleet George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington, (27 January 1663 – 17 January 1733), of Southill Park in Bedfordshire, was a Royal Navy officer and statesman. While still a lieutenant, he delivered a letter from various captains ...

(1663-1733)John Burk
Genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain and Ireland enjoying territorial possessions or high official rank: but uninvested with heritable honours
Colburn, 1836, p. 14) of

, by his wife Anne Conolly, a daughter of

William Conolly William Conolly (9 April 1662 – 30 October 1729), also known as Speaker Conolly, was an Irish politician, Commissioner of Revenue, lawyer and landowner. Career William Conolly was born the son of an inn-keeper, Patrick Conolly, in Ballysh ...

(d.1754), of Stratton Hall, Staffordshire and of Castletown, co. Kildare, 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 ...

. Anne's mother was Lady Anne Wentworth, a daughter of

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, (13 April 1593 ( N.S.)12 May 1641), was an English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament and was a supporter of King Charles I. From 1 ...

(1672–1739). His younger brother was Field Marshal

John Byng, 1st Earl of Strafford Field Marshal John Byng, 1st Earl of Strafford (1772 – 3 June 1860) 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 ...

(1772-1860), elevated to the peerage in 1847 with the same territorial designation as the earldom of his maternal cousins, which earldom had become extinct in 1799.

Career

He was educated at

Göttingen University Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The o ...

from 1780 where he studied under

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1 July 1742 – 24 February 1799) was a German physicist, satirist, and Anglophile. As a scientist, he was the first to hold a professorship explicitly dedicated to experimental physics in Germany. He is remembered for ...

. Byng was returned to Parliament for

in 1790, a seat he held until his death 57 years later. During his early years he was an associate of

Charles James Fox Charles James Fox (24 January 1749 – 13 September 1806), styled ''The Honourable'' from 1762, was a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was the arch-riv ...

.Wrotham Park and its History
, Londonopenhouse Between 1832 and 1847 he was Father of the House, Father of the House of Commons. He was offered a peerage in order to increase the Whig majority in the House of Lords prior to the Reform Act 1832, 1832 Reform Act, but refused. He was also a Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace for

., A Middlesex University resource

Marriage

In 1797 he married Harriet Montgomery, a daughter of Sir William Montgomerie, 1st Baronet, of Macbie Hill, Peebles, but had no children.

Death and succession

He died on 10 January 1847, aged 82. His heir was his younger brother, Field Marshal

(1772-1860), elevated to the peerage in the same year.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Byng, George 1764 births 1847 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1801–1802 UK MPs 1802–1806 UK MPs 1806–1807 UK MPs 1807–1812 UK MPs 1812–1818 UK MPs 1818–1820 UK MPs 1820–1826 UK MPs 1826–1830 UK MPs 1830–1831 UK MPs 1831–1832 UK MPs 1832–1835 UK MPs 1835–1837 UK MPs 1837–1841 UK MPs 1841–1847 Deputy Lieutenants of Middlesex Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies British MPs 1790–1796 British MPs 1796–1800