Sir Charles Mordaunt, 6th Baronet (c. 1697 – 11 March 1778), of Walton d'Eiville in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

, was an English landowner and

Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...

politician who sat in the

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for 40 years from 1734 to 1774. Mordaunt was the eldest son of Sir John Mordaunt, 5th Baronet, of Walton D’Eiville and Little Massingham and his second wife Penelope Warburton, daughter of Sir George Warburton, 1st Baronet, of Arley, Cheshire.George Edward Cokayne ''Complete Baronetage'' 1900
/ref> He matriculated at

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

8 June 1714, aged 16 and

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on 21 May 1718. Mordaunt married Dorothy Conyers daughter of

John Conyers John James Conyers Jr. (May 16, 1929October 27, 2019) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as a U.S. representative from Michigan from 1965 to 2017. Conyers was the sixth-longest serving member of Congress and the lo ...

of Walthamstow on 1 December 1720. He succeeded to the

baronetcy A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

on 6 September 1721. Mordaunt's wife Dorothy died in 1726, and he married as his second wife Sophia Wodehouse, daughter of Sir John Wodehouse of Kimberley, Norfolk on 7 July 1730. Mordaunt entered Parliament at a by- election on 6 February 1734 as Member of Parliament (MP) for

. He and held the seat for the next forty years, never having to fight a contested election. In the 1750s, Mordaunt was regarded as one of the Tory leaders in the House, and in the early days of George III's reign, when the balance of power was in doubt, both court and opposition made vigorous efforts to win his support; he was eventually won over to the royal cause by his son,

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

, being appointed a

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. Mordaunt retired from Parliament in 1774, expecting his son to succeed him as MP, but the Birmingham manufacturers put up a rival candidate and he was defeated. Mordaunt died on 11 March 1778 having had two daughters by his first wife and two sons by his second wife. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son

References

* Lewis Namier & John Brooke, ''The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790'' (London: HMSO, 1964) 1690s births 1778 deaths Alumni of New College, Oxford Mordaunt baronets Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Year of birth uncertain British MPs 1734–1741 British MPs 1741–1747 British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1768–1774 English landowners Tory members of the Parliament of Great Britain {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub