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

Ladies Amabel and Mary Jemima Yorke 1760

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