WARING, Walter (1667-1724), of Owlbury, Lydham, Salop.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1689 - 1690
17 May 1690 - 1695

Family and Education

b. 5 Dec. 1667, 1st s. of Edmund Waring† of Owlbury and Llandinam, Mont. by his w. Mary.  m. 29 May 1694, Abigail (d. 1753), da. and h. of Matthew Morgan of Aberhafesp, Mont., s.psuc. fa. 1687.1

Offices Held

Capt. 23 Ft. Mar. 1689–c.1692.

Bailiff, Bishop’s Castle 1698–9, 1710–11; sheriff, Mont. Dec. 1721–Jan. 1722, Jan. 1724–d.2

Biography

Waring, in his own words, in 1689 ‘raised a company in the regiment of foot commanded by Henry . . . Lord Herbert of Chirbury, and frequently subsisted them, but by sickness, contracted in Ireland . . . was forced to retire to England’. It is possible that service with his regiment prevented him from attending the Convention, to which he had been returned for his father’s old seat. He did not stand in the general election of 1690 but, following the sudden death of one of the new Members for Bishop’s Castle, was soon afterwards returned at a by-election. He probably sat as a Tory. In December 1690 Lord Carmarthen (Sir Thomas Osborne) listed Waring as a probable supporter in the event of a Commons attack on his own ministerial position, while in April 1691 Robert Harley* listed him as doubtful but possibly opposition. He was named as a placeman in one list of 1693. On 23 Mar. 1695 he was given leave of absence to recover his health.3

Waring did not stand again, though he was alleged to have taken part in electioneering at Bishop’s Castle in 1698, giving out bribes on behalf of one of the candidates, Sir William Brownlow, 4th Bt.* Having been chosen as bailiff of Bishop’s Castle before the general election of 1710, Waring was considered a dependable supporter of the Harleys’ interest there, but on hearing of Robert Harley’s plan to secure the return of Sir Robert Raymond*, the newly appointed solicitor-general, Waring became uneasy. An agent of the Harleys reported that:

Mr Waring wishes that it might not be of ill consequence, for his will is to serve you and Sir Simon [Harcourt I*], but this might disappoint both; and his opinion is, first to cast out an ill Member [Charles Mason] . . . and then you may have better opportunities to oblige friends without such hazards.4

Under the terms of Waring’s will, dated 10 July 1724 and proved 14 Aug., Owlbury passed to a cousin of the same name, who was returned for Bishop’s Castle in 1755.5

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: D. W. Hayton

Notes

  • 1. Frag. Gen. n.s. i. 81–83; Salop Par. Reg. Soc. Lichfield dioc. xii. 206; Mont. Colls. xiv. 123; xxvi. 203–11.
  • 2. Add. 70036, ff. 41–43; 70254, Morris Pugh to Robert Harley, 1 Oct. 1710; Bor. of Bishop’s Castle: List of Mayors and Town Clerks.
  • 3. Cal. Treas. Pprs. 1557–1696, pp. 267–8.
  • 4. CJ, xiii. 170; Add. 70254, Morris Pugh to Robert Harley, 1 Oct. 1710; 70236, Samuel Milward to Edward Harley*, 2 Oct. 1710.
  • 5. Frag. Gen. 83.