Sir Cholmeley Dering, 4th Baronet (23 June 1679 – 9 May 1711) was an English

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 A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who sat in the English and

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...

from 1705 to 1711. He was killed in a

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people with matched weapons. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and later the small sword), but beginning in ...

after a fight at dinner.

Early life

Dering was the eldest son of Sir Edward Dering, 3rd Baronet of Surrenden in

Pluckley Pluckley is a village and civil parish in the Ashford district of Kent, England. The civil parish includes the adjacent hamlet of Pluckley Thorne. Geography The landscape of the area itself is the edge of a well-drained plain, with the lowest ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

by Elizabeth Cholmeley, daughter of Sir William Cholmeley, 2nd Baronet of

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is on the Yorkshire Coast at the mouth of the River Esk, North Yorkshire, River Esk and has a maritime, mineral and tourist economy. From the Middle Ages, Whitby ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. Cholmeley Dering was ten years old when he succeeded his father as

baronet 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 ...

in 1689. On 17 July 1704 he married Mary Fisher, the only child of Edward Fisher, merchant of

Mitcham Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. It ...

, and of his wife Ellen Norton, daughter of Richard Norton

Career

Dering was elected at the top of the poll as Tory MP for

at the

1705 English general election The 1705 English general election saw contests in 110 United Kingdom constituencies, constituencies in England and Wales, roughly 41% of the total. The election was fiercely fought, with mob violence and cries of "Church in Danger" occurring in ...

. He voted against the Court candidate for Speaker on 25 October 1705. At the

1708 British general election The 1708 British general election was the first general election to be held after the Acts of Union had united the Parliaments of England and Scotland. The election saw the Whigs gain a majority in the House of Commons, and by November the Whi ...

, he was defeated at Kent. However, he was returned as MP for

Saltash Saltash () is a town and civil parish in south Cornwall, England. It had a population of 16,184 in 2011 census. Saltash faces the city of Plymouth over the River Tamar and is popularly known as "the Gateway to Cornwall". Saltash’s landmarks ...

at a by-election on 7 December 1708. In the following year, he was arrested at a tavern near the Royal Exchange together with three political colleagues who would later become members of the hard-drinking Tory club, the Band of Brothers. In 1710, he followed the party line, voting against the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell. At the

1710 British general election The 1710 British general election produced a landslide victory for the Tories. The election came in the wake of the prosecution of Henry Sacheverell, which had led to the collapse of the previous government led by Godolphin and the Whig Junto. ...

he was elected for both

and Kent, and chose to sit for Kent.

Death and legacy

Dering was dining with others at an inn near

Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...

on 7 May 1711 when he became involved in an argument with Colonel Richard Thornhill. They came to blows and in the ensuing struggle Dering kicked out several of Thornhill's teeth. Their companions broke up the fight, but Thornhill afterwards sent Dering a note challenging him to a duel at

Tothill Fields Tothill Fields was an area of Westminster in the county of Middlesex that lay south of St James's Park on the north bank of the river Thames. One of its main features was the Tothill Fields Bridewell penitentiary. Between 1735 and 1752, it was ...

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

on the morning of 9 May. The duel was with pistols, both being fired but only Dering was hit and he died soon after. Thornhill was tried for

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

but convicted of the lesser offence of

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

, in light of the original provocation. The duel was notable for being the first fought with pistols in London; at the time duels typically used swords. The incident is recorded by

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish writer, essayist, satirist, and Anglican cleric. In 1713, he became the Dean (Christianity), dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, and was given the sobriquet "Dean Swi ...

in his ''Journal to Stella'' and was alluded to by

Richard Steele Sir Richard Steele ( – 1 September 1729) was an Anglo-Irish writer, playwright and politician best known as the co-founder of the magazine ''The Spectator (1711), The Spectator'' alongside his close friend Joseph Addison. Early life Steel ...

in ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

''. Thornhill was murdered on

Turnham Green Turnham Green is a public park on Chiswick High Road, Chiswick, London, and the neighbourhood and conservation area around it; historically, it was one of the four medieval villages in the Chiswick area, the others being Old Chiswick, Littl ...

on 20 August the same year, by two men who allegedly invoked Dering's name as they killed him. Dering's wife, Mary, died in 1707 aged only 20, perhaps as a result of the birth of their younger son Cholmeley.Haslewood, Rev. Francis. (1876). ''Genealogical Memoranda of the Family of Dering''. London. Dering and his wife had at least two children: * Sir Edward Dering, 5th Baronet who succeeded to the baronetcy * Cholmeley Dering

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dering, Cholmeley, 4th Baronet 1679 births 1711 deaths People from Pluckley Dering baronets British MPs 1707–1708 British MPs 1708–1710 British MPs 1710–1713 English MPs 1705–1707 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for constituencies in Cornwall Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Tory MPs (pre-1834) Politicians killed in duels Deaths by firearm in England

Early life

Career

Death and legacy

See also

References