Family and Education

b. 1 May 1729, 3rd s. of Peregrine, 2nd Duke of Ancaster, by Jane, da. and coh. of Sir John Brownlow, 3rd Bt., M.P., of Humby, Lincs. His sis. m. Samuel Greatheed. educ. Westminster 1743-6. m. (1) 11 Nov. 1762, Harriet (d. Apr. 1763), da. and h. of George Morton Pitt, M.P., gov. of Fort St. George, India, s.p.; (2) 2 Jan. 1769, Mary Anne, da. of Maj. Peter Layard of Canterbury, 1 da. suc. nephew as 5th Duke of Ancaster 8 July 1779.

Offices Held

P.C. 12 Feb. 1779; ld. lt: Lincs. 1779- d.

Biography

Bertie’s name was listed by Dupplin in 1754 among ‘Persons desirous to be brought into Parliament’;1 and the possibility of his standing for Coventry was discussed2 but there is no evidence of his having stood anywhere at that general election. Nominated in 1761 for Lincolnshire by his brother, the Duke of Ancaster, Bertie was the first member of his family to stand for the county since their defeats of 1715 and 1720.3 Ancaster seems to have been hesitant about putting him forward, but though an opposition was threatened it did not go to the poll, and he was returned unopposed. In December 1715 he was counted as a Government supporter in Henry Fox’s list of Members favourable to the peace preliminaries, and by Jenkinson in the autumn of 1763. His only known vote in opposition was against the repeal of the Stamp Act, 22 Feb. 1766; he appears as a supporter of Administration in Townshend’s and Newcastle’s lists of 1767. In 1779 the Public Ledgerwrote of him: ‘though inclined to the ministry, he frequently quits the House when their questions are not such as he can vote for agreeable to his own feelings’. No speech by him is recorded.

He died 8 Feb. 1809.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: Mary M. Drummond

Notes

• 1. Add. 32995, f. 122.
• 2. See Lord Archer to Henry Pelham, 11 June 1753, Newcastle (Clumber) Pprs.
• 3. See LINCOLNSHIRE.