George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley

George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley (baptized April 23, 1627 - October 14, 1698 ) was an English peer , politician and businessman.

Life

He was the younger son of George Berkeley, 8th Baron Berkeley from his marriage to Elizabeth Stanhope. He attended Christ Church College of Oxford University , without there to reach a conclusion.

From 1654 to 1656 he was Knight of the Shire for Gloucestershire member of the House of Commons .

Since his older brother Charles had drowned childless in the English Channel in 1640 , George inherited his father's title as 9th Baron Berkeley when his father died on August 10, 1658 and thereby became a member of the House of Lords .

In May 1660 he became part of the embassy that visited the exiled King Charles II in The Hague to invite him to return to England.

From 1660 to 1689 he held the office of the Custos Rotulorum of Gloucestershire, and from 1689 to 1698 that of the Custos Rotulorum of Surrey . In 1678 he was accepted into the Privy Council .

From 1660 to 1698 he was a member of the East India Company , and from 1673 to 1696 Governor of the Levant Company . On January 10, 1663 he became a founding member of the Royal African Company and was admitted to the Royal Society as an Original Fellow on May 20, 1663 .

On September 11, 1679 he was made Earl of Berkeley and Viscount Dursley , in the County of Gloucester. 1681/82 he held the office of Master of Trinity House .

He died in 1698 and was buried in Cranford .

Marriage and offspring

On August 11, 1646, he married Elizabeth Massingberd, daughter of John Massingberd, treasurer of the East India Company, in Morden . With her he had two sons and six daughters:

• Charles Berkeley, 2nd Earl of Berkeley (1649-1710);
• Rev. George Berkeley († 1694), ⚭ Jane Cole;
• Lady Elizabeth Berkeley († 1681) ⚭ William Smith, Barrister at the Inner Temple;
• Lady Theophilia Berkeley (1650–1707) ⚭ (1) Sir Kingsmill Lucy, 2nd Baronet, ⚭ (2) Robert Nelson;
• Lady Arabella Berkeley ⚭ ​​Sir William Pulteney;
• Lady Mary Berkeley († 1719) ⚭ (1) Ford Gray, 1st Earl of Tankerville , ⚭ (2) Richard Rooth, squire of Epsom in Surrey;
• Lady Henrietta Berkeley (1665-1706);
• Lady Arethusa Berkeley († 1743) ⚭ Charles Boyle, 3rd Viscount Dungarvan , 3rd Baron Clifford (1639–1694).

His earl title was inherited in 1698 by his son, the eldest Charles, who had already inherited his title of Baron Berkeley prematurely in 1689 through Writ of Acceleration .

literature

• James McMullen Rigg: Berkeley, George, first Earl of Berkeley . In: Leslie Stephen (Ed.): Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 4, Smith, Elder & Co., London 1885, pp. 347-348.

Web links

• George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley on thepeerage.com
• Berkeley, Earl of (E, 1679-1942) at Cracroft's Peerage

predecessor	Office	successor
George Berkeley	Baron Berkeley 1658-1689	Charles Berkeley (through Writ of Acceleration)
New title created	Earl of Berkeley 1679-1698	Charles Berkeley