John Charles Villiers (1757 - 1838)

Born 14 Nov 1757 in London, England

Ancestors

Died 22 Dec 1838 at age 81 in Deal, Kent, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

John was born in 1757. He passed away in 1838. The second of three sons, he was born on 14 Nov 1757 and was firstly educated at Eton College (1766–74) then at St John's College, Cambridge whence he graduated M.A. in 1776. He took up Law and entered Lincoln's Inn in 1774 and was called to the bar on 22 June 1779. On 6 February 1782 he was made joint king's counsel in the duchy court of Lancaster by his father, then chancellor of the court. At Cambridge he had met and become friends with William Pitt the younger. As had so many of his family, he entered parliament. In January 1784 he was brought into parliament for the pocket borough of Old Sarum by Thomas Pitt, Lord Camelford, at the request of William Pitt. As an M.P. he represented four seats, serving for many years and also received numerous promotions, appointments and honours. He became surveyor of woods south of the Trent on 29 July 1786, and comptroller of the king's household, and was sworn of the privy council on 19 February 1787. In February 1790 he was made a commissioner of the Board of Trade and left his post in the household to accept the sinecure of warden and chief justice in eyre north of the Trent, which brought him an income of £2250 per annum – equivalent to some £400,000 in 2022. In the same year (1790) he was returned for Dartmouth. The following year, on 5 January 1791, he married his first cousin, Maria Eleanor Forbes (daughter of Admiral the Hon. John Forbes and Lady Mary Capell/Capel,) by whom he had only one child – a daughter (Lady Mary Harriet Villiers, who died, unmarried, on 20 Jan 1835).

Research Notes

There are many additional extant sources - from which details have been used in the above Biography - it is suggested a more organised list of sources needs to be established in future. Some have now been added to the original 'hopo' (HistoryOfParliamentOnline) provided.

Sources

• http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/villiers-hon-john-charles-1757-1838
• https://archive.org/details/completepeerage02cokahrish/page/n279/mode/2up
• http://www.thepeerage.com/p1882.htm#i18811
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Villiers,_3rd_Earl_of_Clarendon
• https://www-oxforddnb-com.rp.nla.gov.au/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-28301?rskey=54vnLQ&result=1