Family and Education

b. 4 Apr. 1693, o.s. of John West, 6th Baron de la Warr, by Margaret, da. and h. of John Freeman, London merchant, wid. of Thomas Salwey, merchant. educ. Eton 1707; Grand Tour. m. (1) 25 May 1721 (secretly), Lady Charlotte MacCarthy (d. 7 Feb. 1735), da. of Donogh, 4th Earl of Clancarty [I], 2s. 3da.; (2) 15 June 1744, Anne, da. of Nehemiah Walker, a sea captain of Mdx., wid. of George Nevill, 13th Lord Abergavenny, s.p. suc. fa. as 7th Baron de la Warr 26 May 1723; K.B. 27 May 1725; cr. Visct. Cantelupe and Earl de la Warr 18 Mar. 1761.

Offices Held

Standard bearer, gent. pensioners 1712-14; guidon and 1st maj. 1 tp. Horse Gds. 1715, lt. and lt.-col. 1717; capt. and lt.-col. 1 Ft. Gds. 1730; col. 1 tp. Horse Gds. 1737-d.; brig.-gen. 1743; maj.-gen. 1745; lt.-gen. 1747; gen. of Horse 1765.

Clerk extraordinary to Privy Council 1712-23; verderer, Windsor Park 1718; ld. of the bedchamber 1725-7; P.C. 12 June 1731; treasurer of the Household June 1731-7; ambassador, Saxe Gotha, Mar. 1736; gov. Levant Co. 1736-d.; gov. New York July-Sept. 1737; gov. Gravesend and Tilbury 1747-52; gov. Guernsey 1752-d.

Biography

Returned as a Whig for Grampound, West voted with the Administration in every recorded division, except that on Lord Cadogan in June 1717, when he voted with the Whig Opposition. He did not stand in 1722. After his accession to the peerage in 1723, he became one of the principal ministerial representatives in the Lords.1 On his appointment to escort the Princess of Saxe Gotha to England for her marriage with the Prince of Wales in 1736, Hervey observed that West, now Lord de la Warr,

if the King chose him to prevent the Prince’s having any jealousy of the future bride’s affections being purloined on the way by him who was sent to attend her to England, was the properest man his Majesty could have pitched upon; for, except his white staff and red ribband as knight of the Bath, I know of nothing belonging to the long, lank, awkward person of Lord Delaware that could attract her eyes; nor do I believe there could be found in any of the Goth or Vandal courts of Germany a more unpolished ambassador for such an occasion.2

He died 16 Mar. 1766.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

• 1. Hervey, Mems. 713.
• 2. Ibid. 548-9.