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

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

(now

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

), and of Wentworth House, 5, St James's Square, 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 (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 Wrotham Park, by his wife Anne Conolly, a daughter of William Conolly (d.1754), of Stratton Hall, Staffordshire and of Castletown, co. Kildare, a Member of Parliament. 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 (New Style, N.S.)12 May 1641), was an English people, English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament of England, Parliament ...

(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 officer and politician. After serving as a junior officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and Irish Rebellion of 1798, he became Commanding Officer of ...

(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 (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

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. He was the first person in Germany to hold a professorship explicitly dedicated to experimental physics. He is remembered for his p ...

. 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 British British Whig Party, Whig politician and statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centurie ...

.Wrotham Park and its History
, Londonopenhouse Between 1832 and 1847 he was Father of the House of Commons. He was offered a peerage in order to increase the Whig majority in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

prior to the 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 Montgomery, 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