Sir William Yonge, 4th Baronet (c. 169310 August 1755), , of

Escot House Escot in the parish of Talaton, near Ottery St Mary in Devon, is an historic estate. The present mansion house known as Escot House is a grade II listed building built in 1837 by Sir John Kennaway, 3rd Baronet to the design of Henry Roberts, ...

in the parish of

Talaton Talaton is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Devon. It lies approximately 6 miles to the west of Honiton, 3 miles to the north of Ottery St Mary, 2 miles to the west of Feniton and 2 miles to the east of Whimple. The parish ...

in Devon, was an English

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the 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 parliament. ...

for 39 years from 1715 to 1754.

Origins

Yonge was the son and heir of

Sir Walter Yonge, 3rd Baronet Sir Walter Yonge, 3rd Baronet (1653 – 18 July 1731) of Escot in the parish of Talaton, Devon, was an English landowner and Whig politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1679 and 1710. Early life Yonge was bapti ...

, and his second wife Gwen Williams, daughter of

Sir Robert Williams, 2nd Baronet Sir Robert Williams, 2nd Baronet (ca. 1627–1678), was a politician in Wales. He was a Member of Parliament for Caernarvonshire, 1656–1658, and for Caernarvon Boroughs in 1659. He was one of the Williams-Bulkeley baronets; he became a baron ...

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 northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

Career

In 1715 Yonge was returned as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

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 constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorate ...

Honiton Honiton ( or ) is a market town and civil parish in East Devon, situated close to the River Otter, north east of Exeter in the county of Devon. Honiton has a population estimated at 11,822 (based on mid-year estimates for the two Honiton Ward ...

, in Devon and held the seat until 1754. He was also returned for Tiverton at the general elections of 1727, 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 statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader ...

, was rewarded with a commissionership of the Treasury in 1724. King

George II George II or 2 may refer to: People * George II of Antioch (seventh century AD) * George II of Armenia (late ninth century) * George II of Abkhazia (916–960) * Patriarch George II of Alexandria (1021–1051) * George II of Georgia (1072–1089) ...

, who conceived a strong antipathy to Sir William, spoke of him as "Stinking Yonge"; but Yonge obtained a commissionership of the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

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. Afte ...

. 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 The Lord High Treasurer of Ireland was the head of the Exchequer of Ireland, chief financial officer of the Kingdom of Ireland. The designation ''High'' was added in 1695. After the Acts of Union 1800 created the United Kingdom of Great Britain a ...

for life in 1746. Acting on the committee of management for the impeachment of

Lord Lovat Lord Lovat ( gd, Mac Shimidh) 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 ...

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 writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician. He had Strawb ...

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 diplo ...

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, which worked to alleviate the scourge of child abandonment. He succeeded his father, the 3rd Baronet, in 1731, taking possession of

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 ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

, 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 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
Google Books
/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, 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, KCB, PC (17 July 1731 – 25 September 1812), of Escot House in the parish of Talaton in Devon, England, was a British Secretary at War (1782–1783 and 1783–1794). He succeeded to his father's baronetcy in ...

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