Sir William Yonge, 4th Baronet, (c. 169310 August 1755) of Escot House in the parish of Talaton in Devon, was an English

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

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 ...

for 39 years from 1715 to 1754.

Origins

Yonge was the son and heir of Sir Walter Yonge, 3rd Baronet, and his second wife Gwen Williams, daughter of Sir Robert Williams, 2nd Baronet of Penryn, Cornwall. He was a great-great-grandson of Walter Yonge (1579–1649), a lawyer, merchant and notable diarist, whose diaries (1604–45) are valuable material for the contemporaneous history of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

Career

In 1715 Yonge was returned as Member of Parliament for his family's

Rotten Borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or Electoral district, constituency in Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, or the United Kin ...

Honiton Honiton () is a market town and civil parish in East Devon, situated close to the River Otter, Devon, River Otter, north east of Exeter in the county of Devon. Honiton has a population estimated at 12,154 (based on 2021 census). History The ...

, in Devon and held the seat until 1754. He was also returned for Tiverton at the general elections of

1727 Events January–March * January 1 – (December 21, 1726 O.S.) Spain's ambassador to Great Britain demands that the British return Gibraltar after accusing Britain of violating the terms of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. Britain ...

, 1747 and 1754 but only took the seat in 1754. In the

he attached himself to the Whigs, and making himself useful to Sir

Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (; 26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745), known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British Whigs (British political party), Whig statesman who is generally regarded as the ''de facto'' first Prim ...

, was rewarded with a commissionership of the Treasury in 1724. King George II, who conceived a strong antipathy to Sir William, spoke of him as "Stinking Yonge"; but Yonge obtained a commissionership of the Admiralty in 1728, was restored to the Treasury in 1730, and in 1735 became

Secretary at War The secretary at war was a political position in the English and later British government, with some responsibility over the administration and organization of the Army, but not over military policy. The Secretary at War ran the War Office. Aft ...

. He distinguished himself especially in his defence of the Government against a hostile motion by Pulteney in 1742. He was created KB in 1725. Escot Talaton Devon ByRevJohnSwete 1794

Making friends with the Pelhams, he was appointed Vice-Treasurer of Ireland for life in 1746. Acting on the committee of management for the impeachment of

Lord Lovat Lord Lovat () is a title of the rank Lord of Parliament in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1458 for Hugh Fraser by summoning him to the Scottish Parliament as Lord Fraser of Lovat, although the holder is referred to simply as Lo ...

in 1747, he won the applause of

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (; 24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English Whig politician, writer, historian and antiquarian. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London ...

by moving that prisoners impeached for

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its d ...

should be allowed the assistance of counsel. In 1748 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 was a founding Governor 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 ...

, which worked to alleviate the scourge of

child abandonment A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...

. He succeeded his father, the 3rd Baronet, in 1731, taking possession of Escot House near Ottery St Mary, Devon, which had been built by his father.

Literary career

Yonge enjoyed some reputation as a versifier, some of his lines being even mistaken for the work of

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

, greatly to the disgust of the latter. He wrote the lyrics incorporated in a comic opera, adapted from

Richard Brome Richard Brome ; (c. 1590? – 24 September 1652) was an English dramatist of the Caroline era. Life Virtually nothing is known about Brome's private life. Repeated allusions in contemporary works, like Ben Jonson's '' Bartholomew Fair'', in ...

's ''The Jovial Crew'', which was produced at the

Drury Lane Drury Lane is a street on the boundary between the Covent Garden and Holborn areas of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of London Borough of Camden, Camden and the southern part in the City o ...

Theatre in 1730 and had considerable success.

Marriages and children

Yonge married in 1716, Mary, the daughter of Samuel Heathcote of Hackney, from whom he was divorced in 1724. At this point they had lived for some time apart and Yonge had a number of extramarital affairs. But when he found out his wife had a lover, too, he took the opportunity to sue his wife's lover for damages, and then as the result of the divorce proceedings he got his wife's dowry and a greater part of her fortune. The case was the inspiration for Lady Mary Montagu to write a poem "Epistle from Mrs Yonge to Her Husband", protesting against the sexual double standard of her era.Lipking, Lawrence. ''Abandoned Women and Poetic Tradition'', Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1988, p. 10
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/ref> By his second wife, Anne Howard, a daughter and coheiress of Thomas Howard, 6th Baron Howard of Effingham, he had two sons and six daughters.

Death

Yonge died at his seat of

Escot Escot may refer to: * Escot, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France * Escot, Talaton, England People with the surname * Hagre l'Escot (fl. 1360s), Scottish mercenary captain * Pozzi Escot (born 1933), Peruvian musician See also

* Ascot (disambiguatio ...

, near Honiton, on 10 August 1755. He was succeeded in his title and estates by his eldest son

Sir George Yonge, 5th Baronet Sir George Yonge, 5th Baronet, Order of the Bath, KCB, Privy Council of Great Britain, PC, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (; 17 July 1731 – 25 September 1812), of Escot, Talaton, Escot House in the parish of Talaton in Devon, England, was ...

References

Yonge family genealogy site
*

External links

Sir William Yonge
at th
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yonge, William Yonge, 4th Baronet 1690s births 1755 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of England British MPs 1715–1722 British MPs 1722–1727 British MPs 1727–1734 British MPs 1734–1741 British MPs 1741–1747 British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 Fellows of the Royal Society Knights Companion of the Order of the Bath Lords of the Admiralty Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Honiton Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Ashburton