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VILLIERS, Hon. John Charles (1757-1838).
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Biography Detail
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Constituency
Dates
Family and Education
b. 14 Nov. 1757, 2nd s. of Hon. Thomas Villiers (d. 1786) , and bro. of Hon. Thomas Villiers (d. 1824). educ. Eton 1766; St. John’s, Camb. 1774; L. Inn 1774, called 1779. m. 5 Jan. 1791, Maria Eleanor, da. and coh. of Adm. Hon. John Forbes, 1da. d.v.p. suc. bro. Thomas as 3rd Earl of Clarendon 7 Mar. 1824.
Offices Held
P.C. 19 Feb. 1787; comptroller of the Household 1787-90; c.j. in eyre North of Trent 1790-1824; envoy to Portugal 1807-10.
Biography
Villiers sat at Old Sarum on the interest of Thomas Pitt, Lord Camelford, who on 28 Jan. 1785 wrote to George Hardinge, Villiers’s colleague, expostulating with him over his support of William Pitt’s proposals for parliamentary reform:1
Old Sarum has two representatives; upon one of them [Villiers] I have not the smallest claim, because I never pretended any kindness to him in the seat I gave him. It is to be sure, even in his instance, however, a whimsical thing, that from his connection with Pitt he feels himself under a necessity of subverting, as far as his vote goes, the seat he is entrusted with by his constituents, or, if you choose to call it so, by his constituent.
Villiers voted regularly with Pitt’s Administration. Only two speeches by him are reported 1784-90: on 20 Feb. 1784, defending Pitt; and on 20 Apr. 1789, on a matter which concerned him as comptroller of the Household.2
He died 22 Dec. 1838.
