Family and Education

bap. 2 Dec. 1690, 1st s. of Mark Shafto of Whitworth by Margaret, da. of Sir John Ingleby, 2nd Bt., of Ripley, Yorks.; bro. of John Shafto†.  educ. Lincoln, Oxf. 1708.  m. 17 Oct. 1723, Dorothy, da. of Henry Dawnay*, 2nd Visct. Downe [I], sis. of Hon. John Dawnay*, s.p.  suc. fa. 1723.

Offices Held

Freeman, Durham 1726.

Biography

Shafto was the grandson of Sir Robert Shafto, the Royalist recorder of Newcastle displaced during the Civil Wars but who was reinstated after the Restoration. He was successful for Durham with the support of the Church interest at a by-election in 1712, a petition alleging that he and his agents were guilty of bribery at this election never being reported from committee. On 10 Apr. 1713 he was among the three appointees to prepare a bill making Stockton, Durham, a separate parish. On 18 June he voted against the French commerce bill. He was returned unopposed as a Tory to George II’s first Parliament and he died in December 1729.1

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

• 1. IGI, London, and Yorks.; Surtees, Dur. iii. 295; iv(2), 22.