Sir Richard Grenville (1678 – 17 February 1727) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

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. T ...

from 1715 to 1727.

Early life

Grenville was the son of Sir Richard Grenville of Wotton in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-e ...

and his wife Eleanor Temple née Tyrell, the wife of Sir Peter Temple of Stantonbury, Buckinghamshire. He married Hester Temple, the daughter of

Sir Richard Temple, 3rd Baronet Sir Richard Temple, 3rd Baronet (28 March 1634 – 8 May 1697) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1654 and 1697. Life Temple was the son of Sir Peter Temple, 2nd Baronet of Stowe and his second ...

by a licence of 25 November 1710. Her brother was

Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham (24 October 1675 – 14 September 1749) was a British soldier and Whig politician. After serving as a junior officer under William III during the Williamite War in Ireland and during the Nine Years' War, ...

whose peerage was entailed upon her and her sons.

Political career

Grenville was proposed as Whig candidate for

at the

1715 general election Events For dates within Great Britain and the British Empire, as well as in the Russian Empire, the "old style" Julian calendar was used in 1715, and can be converted to the "new style" Gregorian calendar (adopted in the British Empire i ...

but by an agreement with

Richard Hampden Richard Hampden (baptized 13 October 1631 – 15 December 1695) was an English Whig politician and son of Ship money tax protester John Hampden. He was sworn a Privy Counsellor in 1689 and was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 18 March 1690 u ...

he was elected

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

Wendover Wendover is a market town and civil parish at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated at the point where the main road across the Chilterns between London and Aylesbury intersects with the once important road a ...

instead. At the 1722 general election he was returned unopposed as MP for

Buckingham Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of ...

on the interest of Lord Cobham.

Death and legacy

Grenville died on 17 February 1727 in the last year of that parliament and his children were taken care of by his brother-in-law Lord Cobham. He was the father, father-in-law and grandfather of various

Prime Ministers A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is no ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. Among his male-line descendants were the future

Earls Temple The Baronetcy of Temple, of Stowe, in the Baronetage of England, was created on 24 September 1611 for Thomas Temple, eldest son of John Temple of Stowe, Buckinghamshire. His great-grandson Sir Richard, 4th Baronet, was created Baron Cobham on 19 ...

and Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos. His wife Hester inherited the titles of her brother in 1749 and became 1st Countess Temple in her own right. Richard and Hester were the parents of six sons and a daughter. Five sons served in parliament: * Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple *

George Grenville George Grenville (14 October 1712 – 13 November 1770) was a British Whig statesman who rose to the position of Prime Minister of Great Britain. Grenville was born into an influential political family and first entered Parliament in 1741 as an ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

of the UK (1763–65) *

James Grenville James Grenville (12 February 1715 – 14 September 1783) was a British politician. He was born at Wotton House, Buckinghamshire in 1715 into the influential Grenville political family and was one of five brothers who went into politics. He was ...

Henry Grenville Henry Grenville (11 September 1717 – 22 April 1784) was a British diplomat and politician. Grenville was born into a family of politicians. His father was Sir Richard Grenville, MP; one of his elder brothers was Earl Temple, a government ...

Thomas Grenville Thomas Grenville (31 December 1755 – 17 December 1846) was a British politician and bibliophile. Background and education Grenville was the second son of Prime Minister George Grenville and Elizabeth Wyndham, daughter of Sir William W ...

A daughter, Hester, was the wife of Pitt the elder, also a Prime Minister of the UK. Two of Richard's grandsons, Pitt the younger and William Grenville, also rose to serve as Prime Minister.

References

Bibliography

* Johnson, Allen S. A prologue to revolution: the political career of George Grenville (1712–1770). University Press of America, 1997. * Lawson, Phillip. ''George Grenvile: A Political Life''. University of Manchester Press, 1984. 1678 births 1727 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...

British MPs 1715–1722 British MPs 1722–1727 People from Buckinghamshire Parents of prime ministers of the United Kingdom {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub