WILBRAHAM, Randle (?1695-1770), of Rode Hall, nr. Congleton, Cheshire.

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

Constituency

Dates

26 Nov. 1740 - 1747
1747 - 1754
1754 - 1768

Family and Education

b. ?1695, 2nd surv. s. of Randle Wilbraham of Nantwich, Cheshire by Mary, da. of Sir Richard Brooke, 2nd Bt., of Norton Priory, Cheshire. educ. B.N.C. Oxf. 10 Oct. 1711, aged 16; L. Inn 1711, called 1718, bencher 1743. m. 24 Aug. 1722, Dorothy, da. of Andrew Kenrick, barrister, of Woore, Salop, 2s. 3da. (da. Mary m. Charles Gray).

Offices Held

Vice-chamberlain, Chester; dep. steward, Oxford University.

Biography

Wilbraham, a Tory, was returned by Lord Gower at a by-election in 1740 and again in 1741. He remained in opposition after Lord Gower went over to the Government in 1744. During the trial of the rebel lords in 1746, Horace Walpole reported (to Mann, 1 Aug. 1746) that Lord Balmerino asked to be defended by Wilbraham,

a very able lawyer in the House of Commons, who, the Chancellor said privately, he was sure would as soon be hanged as plead such a cause. But he came as counsel to-day (the third day), when Lord Balmerino gave up his plea as invalid, and submitted, without any speech.

In 1747 he was brought in by his kinsman, Lord Thanet, for Appleby. The 2nd Lord Egmont wrote of him in his electoral survey, c.1749-50, ‘Must have some lift in the law considerable. He has strongly declared for us’, adding that he was one of the lawyers who ‘have highly the esteem of the Tories, beyond all of their profession, except Fazakerley’ (Nicholas). He made his first recorded speech, 1 June 1753, against an amendment to Hardwicke’s marriage bill.1

He died 3 Dec. 1770.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

  • 1. Add. 32732, f. 3.