Family and Education

b. c.1667, s. of Strode Bingham of Henstridge, Som. by Cecily, da. of Thomas Chapman of Henstridge.  educ. Exeter, Oxf. matric. 9 Mar. 1683, aged 15.  m. 1695, Philadelphia, da. and h. of John Potenger of the Inner Temple, 6s. 7da.  suc. uncle John Bingham† 1675.

Offices Held

Biography

Bingham, a Tory, was descended from an old Dorset family which had acquired the manor of Melcombe Bingham in the reign of Henry III. His father, a younger son, had settled at one of the family estates in Somerset, where Bingham himself spent his early years. He succeeded to the Dorset property in 1675 upon the death of his uncle, the Parliamentarian John Bingham. The estate which Bingham inherited was considerably encumbered with mortgages, however, and his financial prospects were not greatly improved by marriage in 1695 to the daughter of a minor author and poet. Returned for Bridport in 1702, Bingham assisted in the management of two private estate bills during his first Parliament, and voted, as had been forecast, in favour of the Tack on 28 Nov. 1704. He did not stand again until 1711, when returned at a by-election for the county. Bingham managed an estate bill through all its stages in April and May 1713 and voted on 18 June in favour of the French commerce bill. He retired at the dissolution, and is not known to have stood again. Bingham died in 1735.1

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: Paula Watson

Notes

• 1. Hutchins, Dorset, iv. 368–79; Mems. John Potenger ed. Bingham, pp. i, 38, 41, 59, 69.