WALCOT, Humphrey (1672-1743), of Bitterley, Salop.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1713 - 1722

Family and Education

b. 1672, 4th s. of John Walcot, M.P., of Walcot, Salop by his 2nd w. Elizabeth, da. of Sir George Clerke of Watford, Northants. m. (1) Margaret (d. 6 Nov. 1715), da. of Edmund Pearce of Wilcott, Salop, s.p.; (2) c.1720, Anne, da. and h. of George Curteis of Otterden, Kent, wid. of Thomas Wheler (d.s.p. 1716), 1s. 3da.

Offices Held

Dep. paymaster of forces 1712-13; assistant, R. African Co. 1717-22, dep. gov. 1720, sub gov. 1721.1

Biography

Humphrey Walcot belonged to an ancient Shropshire family, with large estates between Ludlow and Bishop’s Castle, carrying an interest in both boroughs. A merchant, apprenticed in 1691 to a British firm in Cadiz, he was related to James Brydges, M.P., paymaster of the forces abroad 1705-13, created Duke of Chandos 1719, whose sister married his elder brother in 1696. Soon after this marriage he settled at Stanmore, near Cannons, the future seat of Brydges, with whom he became closely associated, both officially and in business on the board of the Royal African Company, in which his holding in 1716 amounted to £32,000.

In 1709 Walcot bought his brother’s estate of Bitterley Court,2 near Ludlow, which he contested unsuccessfully in 1710. He was returned for it as a Tory in 1713 but as a Whig who would often vote with the Tories in 1715, giving his interest at Bishop’s Castle to Lord Harley.3 From 1715 he voted against the Government in all recorded divisions. He also looked after the interests of the African Company, at whose request he appears to have been instrumental in securing the rejection of a petition from its creditors to the Commons for an enquiry into its affairs in 1720.4 Though supported by Chandos, who had bought the manor of Bishop’s Castle from the Harleys in 1718, he lost his seat in 1722 and did not stand again.5 He died in October 1743.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: J. B. Lawson

Notes

  • 1. R. African Co. court bks. T70/101.
  • 2. J. R. Burton, Hist. Walcot Fam. 78-79.
  • 3. Chandos to Walcot, 15 and 21 Sept. 1714, 28 Dec. 1714, 13 Jan. and 5 Feb. 1715, Chandos letter bks.
  • 4. General court, 27 Jan. 1720, T70/101, ff. 190-6; CJ, xix. 280.
  • 5. Chandos to J. Baldwyn, 9 Nov., 11 Dec. 1721, to Sir F. Charlton, 18 Feb. 1722, Chandos letter bks.