Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 1.djvu/483

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BARRiNGTON COMPLETE PEERAGE 433 II. 1734. 2. William Wildman (Barrington-Shute), (*) Vis- count Barrington of Ardglass, <yc. [I.J, s. and h., b. 15 Jan. 1 71 7, and ed. at Geneva. M.P. (") for Berwick, 1740-54; for Plymouth, 1754 to 1778. Took his seat in the House of Lords [I.], 8 Oct. 1745. A Lord of the Admiralty, 1746-54 ; Master of the Great Wardrobe, 1754-55 ; P.C. 11 IMar. 1755, and Secretary at War, 1755-61; Chancellor of the Exchequer, (°) Mar. 1761 to June 1762 ; Treasurer of the Navy, 1762-65; Secretary at War, (2nd time), July 1765 to Dec. 1778; Joint Postmaster Gen., Jan. to Apr. 1782, when he retired from public life. He m., 16 Sep. 1740, at Harleston, Northants, Mary, (" with £^000 p.a. ") widow of the Hon. Samuel Grimston, da. and h. of Henry LovELL, ot Northampton, Merchant, by Mary, da. and coh. of Thomas Cole, of London. She d. 24 Sep. 1764, at Becket House, Berks, and was bur. at Shrivenham. Will, dat. 2 Nov. 1761 to 19 May 1764, pr. 3 Nov. 1764. He d. s.p.s., I Feb. 1793, in Cavendish Sq., and was bur. at Shrivenham, aged 76. Q M.I. Will dat. 21 Apr. 1787 to 9 Dec. 1792, pr. 8 Feb. 1793. III. 1793. 3. William (Barrington), Viscount Barrington OF Ardglass, i^c. [I.], nephew and h., being s. and h. of Major Gen. the Hon. John Barrington, Deputy Governor of Berwick, by Elizabeth, da. of Florentius Vassal, of Jamaica, which John was 3rd s. of (*) These names are so given in Lodge, vol. v, p. 206, whose article (1784) was based on the " information of Lord Viscount Barrington. " C') He entered Pari, as an opponent of Walpole, and was for a long time classed as a Whig, but acted with the Tories after Lord North became Premier. He was one of " The King's friends. " His steady hold on office in spite of changes of administration is commented on in some satirical lines, for which see Appendix H in this volume. Horace Walpole, in the same letter as that in which he refers to his father (see note " e " previous p.), speaks of his " forty years of servility which even in this age makes him a proverb ; " and in his George II (vol. ii, p. 142) he says that he " had a lisp and a tedious precision that prejudiced me against him, yet he did not want a sort of vivacity. " Lecky calls him " one of the most servile politicians of the time." He figures, in 1771, ("The Hostile Scribe and the Stable-yard Messalina ") among the notorious tete-a-tete portraits, in the Town and Country Mag., vol. iii, p. 9, the lady to whom allusion is made being Lady Harrington. See Appendix B, in the last volume. V.G. i^) The 1st Lord Holland writes of this appointment, — "Lord B., a frivolous little minded man is not honester or abler than his predecessor [Henry Bilson Legge], he will do well in this now (that there is another head to the Treasury, and another head of the House of Commons) insignificant [j/V .'] employment. In his last year he pleased nobody. He has no regard to truth, but perhaps by what are not so mater- ial faults, being trifling, tedious, and circumstantial, he was very disagreeable to King, General, and Minister. " V.G. C) Both he and 3 of his brothers were of sufficient note in their day to find a place in the Diet. Nat. Biog. Daines B., 4th s. of the ist Viscount, is still remem- bered as an antiquary, lawyer, and naturalist. Samuel, the 5th s., was a distinguished Admiral, and Shute, the 6th and yet s., was Bishop of LlandafF 1769, Bishop of Salisbury 1782, and Bishop of Durham 1791 till his death, j./., 25 Mar. 1826. V.G.