Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke,
PC,
FRS (9 March 1720 – 16 May 1790), styled Viscount Royston between 1754 and 1764, was a British politician and writer.
Life
The eldest son of
Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke
Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, (1 December 16906 March 1764) was an England, English lawyer and politician who served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. He was a close confidant of the Duke of Newcastle, Prime Minister between 1 ...
, he was educated at
Newcome's School
Newcome's School was a fashionable boys' school in Hackney, then to the east of London, founded in the early 18th century. A number of prominent Whig families sent their sons there. The school closed in 1815, and the buildings were gutted in 18 ...
and later
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...
. He was appointed
Teller of the Exchequer
The Teller of the Receipt of the Exchequer was an office in the English Exchequer.
The Tellers of the Exchequer received any money to be paid into the Exchequer, noted the amount in a book, and sent a copy of the entry, called a Teller's Bill, to ...
in 1738, a post he held for life. In 1741 he was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
.
He sat in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...
as member for
Reigate
Reigate ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'', and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The ea ...
(1741–47), and afterwards for
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...
; he kept notes of the debates which were afterwards embodied in
Cobbett's ''Parliamentary History''.
During the political crisis over the loss of Minorca to the French in 1756, Lord Royston was tapped with collecting favourable press accounts of the ministry. He joined his father, as well as Lord Mansfield, to defend the Newcastle ministry during the parliamentary inquiries following the execution of
Admiral John Byng.
He was styled by the
courtesy title
A courtesy title is a title that does not have legal significance but is rather used by custom or courtesy, particularly, in the context of nobility, the titles used by children of members of the nobility (cf. substantive title).
In some context ...
Viscount Royston from 1754 to 1764, when he succeeded to the
earldom
Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ''countess'' is used.
The titl ...
on the death of his father. He inherited the Wimpole estate, Cambridgeshire which his father had bought from
Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford. On the accession of
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...
in 1760, Yorke was sworn of the privy council.
In politics he supported the
Rockingham Whigs. He was
Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire
This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire. The title Lord Lieutenant is given to the British monarch's personal representative in the counties of the United Kingdom. Lord Lieutenants are supported by an appointe ...
(1757 to his death) and high steward of Cambridge University. He edited a quantity of miscellaneous state papers and correspondence, to be found in manuscript collections in the
British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
. Between 1756 and 1760, he served in the honorary position of vice president of the
Foundling Hospital
The Foundling Hospital (formally the Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children) was a children's home in London, England, founded in 1739 by the philanthropy, philanthropic Captain (nautical), sea captain ...
, a charitable institution providing for London's abandoned children.
He died in 1790 and was buried in
Flitton,
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...
with a monument by
Thomas Banks.
Works
With his brother,
Charles Yorke, he was one of the chief contributors to ''
Athenian Letters; or the Epistolary Correspondence of an agent of the King of Persia residing at Athens during the Peloponnesian War'' (4 vols., London, 1741), a work that for many years had a considerable vogue and went through several editions.
Marriage and children

On 22 May 1740 he married
Lady Jemima Campbell, only daughter of
John Campbell, 3rd Earl of Breadalbane by his wife Lady Amabel de Grey, daughter and heiress of
Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent
Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent, Order of the Garter, KG, Privy Council of England, PC (16715 June 1740) was a British politician and courtier. None of his sons outlived him, so his new title became extinct on his death. Though the house he buil ...
(1671–1740). On the death of her grandfather the Duke of Kent in 1740, Jemima succeeded him
in her own right as the
2nd Marchioness Grey and
4th Baroness Lucas. By his wife he had two daughters and co-heiresses:
*
Lady Amabel Yorke, 1st Countess de Grey (23 January 1751 – 4 March 1833), eldest daughter, who married
Alexander Hume-Campbell, Lord Polwarth, childless. She succeeded her mother as 5th Baroness Lucas.
*
Lady Mary Jemima Yorke (9 February 1756 – 1830),
[''The Register of Births & Baptisms in the Parish of St James within the Liberty of Westminster Vol. IV. 1741-1760''. 7 March 1756.] who married
Thomas Robinson, 2nd Baron Grantham
Thomas Robinson, 2nd Baron Grantham PC (30 November 173820 July 1786) was a British statesman. He notably served as Foreign Secretary between 1782 and 1783.
Background and education
Grantham was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of Thomas Ro ...
and had issue.
Death and succession
He was succeeded in the earldom by his nephew
Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke.
References
*R. H. Nichols and F. A. Wray, ''The History of the Foundling Hospital'' (London: Oxford University Press, 1935).
External links
*
;Attribution
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardwicke, Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl Of
1720 births
1790 deaths
People educated at Newcome's School
Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
2
Lord-lieutenants of Cambridgeshire
Royston, Philip Yorke, Viscount
British MPs 1741–1747
British MPs 1747–1754
British MPs 1754–1761
British MPs 1761–1768
Fellows of the Royal Society
Philip
Philip, also Phillip, is a male name derived from the Macedonian Old Koine language, Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominen ...
People from Wimpole