Family and Education

b. ?1781, s. and coh. of Welbore Ellis Agar,1 commr. of customs, of New Norfolk Street. m. 23 Aug. 1811, Margaret, da. of Edward George Lind of Stratford Place, Oxford Street, s.p. suc. fa. 1805; kntd. 18 July 1812.

Offices Held

Extra clerk in Pay Office 1801-2; cornet 1 Life Gds. 1803, lt. 1804, capt. 1806; capt. 50 Ft. 1812; maj. 2 Life Gds. 1814, ret. 1815.

Biography

Captain Agar was evidently an all-rounder: a ‘celebrated one mile runner’, a member of the Four in Hand club, but also interested in literature, art and music. His father who had invested £20,000 in paintings left him East India Company stock and London property.2 In 1806 he offered himself as a ‘game cock’ to the electors at Sudbury. He was defeated, but persevered and came second in the contest of 1807.

He at once showed opposition sympathies, voting against the address, 26 June, and for the exposure of placemen and pensioners, 7 July. Next session he was in the minorities on the Copenhagen expedition, 3 Feb., for Burdett’s motion on the droits of Admiralty, 11 Feb., and against the ministry’s military plans, 14 Mar. He was among the Whigs who met to endorse Ponsonby’s leadership, 18 Jan. 1809. He voted against the convention of Cintra, 21 Feb., and against Perceval’s resolution exonerating the Duke of York, 17 Mar. He also supported inquiry into allegations of ministerial corruption, 25 Apr. He opposed the address, 23 Jan. 1810, and voted against ministers on the Scheldt inquiry, 23 Feb., 30 Mar. 1810 (being absent on 5 Mar.). The Whigs listed him ‘present Opposition’ at that time. On 5 Apr. he voted against Burdett’s committal to the Tower and on 18 Apr., in his only known speech, testified that he was on duty during the Burdettite riots and saw the mob fire first on the soldiers. He joined opposition on the adjournment and the Regency questions, 29 Nov. 1810, 1 and 21 Jan. 1811. On 4 Feb. 1812 he supported Morpeth’s motion for inquiry into the state of Ireland. He was in the majority for a more efficient administration, 21 May 1812. His vote against Catholic relief, 22 June, is best interpreted in the light of his constituents’ known hostility to that cause.3 On presenting a loyal address from Sudbury to the Prince Regent a month later he was knighted.4 It did not save his seat: he was defeated at the ensuing election. Agar died 28 Aug. 1866, aged 85.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: Winifred Stokes

Notes

• 1. Agar’s will (PCC 743 Nelson) leaves no doubt as to his paternity, but his mother remains unidentified. His father’s wife, Gertrude, da. of Sir Charles Hotham, Bt., died 14 Aug. 1780, aged 50, and Burke’s Peerage states that there was no issue of that marriage, which took place on 21 Oct. 1769.
• 2. Gent. Mag. (1805), ii. 1082; (1816), i. 125; Farington, v. 150, 198; Gronow, Reminiscences (1900), ii. 112.
• 3. See SUDBURY.
• 4. Bury Post, 22 July 1812.