Family and Education

b. ?1701, 3rd s. of Thomas Mansel, M.P., 1st Baron Mansel of Margam, Glam. by Martha, da. and h. of Francis Millington of Newick Place, Suss.; bro. of Hon. Robert Mansel. educ. Ch. Ch. Oxf. 6 July 1717, aged 16. m. (1) 17 May 1724, Lady Elizabeth Hervey (d. 3 Sept. 1727), 1st da. of John Hervey, M.P., 1st Earl of Bristol, sis. of Carr and John, Lords Hervey, s.p.; (2) 13 Mar. 1729, Lady Barbara Blackett, o. da. of William Villiers, M.P., 2nd Earl of Jersey, wid. of Sir William Blackett, 2nd Bt., 1da. suc. to Briton Ferry on d. of kinsman, Thomas Mansel, M.P. 1706; bro. Christopher as 4th Baron 26 Nov. 1744.

Offices Held

Biography

The Mansel family had represented Glamorgan uninterruptedly from 1670 to 1712, when Bussy’s father, Sir Thomas Mansel, was one of the twelve peers created to give a Tory majority in the House of Lords. After Lord Mansel’s death in 1723, Bussy himself became a leading political figure in the county. In addition to his own estate of Briton Ferry, he managed the interest of his nephew, the 2nd Lord Mansel, until the latter came of age in 1740; and in 1738 he inherited a tenure for life of the Stradling estate of St. Donat’s. Returned as a Tory on the family interest at a by-election for Cardiff in January 1727, he was again successful at the general election in that year, voting always with the Opposition. According to the 1st Lord Egmont he was the bearer, in April 1732, of a letter from his brother-in-law, Lord Hervey, to Anne Vane, the Prince of Wales’s (and Hervey’s) mistress, ‘upbraid[ing] her with the ill services she did him with the Prince.’ Miss Vane fell into a fit and threw the letter back to Mansel, who

swore to her he would be my Lord Hervey’s death for making him the messenger of so great an affront, and for deceiving him, for that my Lord told him his letter was only to recommend a midwife. To prevent murder Miss Vane was obliged to acquaint the Prince with what happened, who made the matter up.1

In 1734 Mansel stood for the county but was narrowly defeated by William Talbot. On Talbot’s succession to the peerage Mansel was not opposed at the ensuing by-election, retaining his seat until 1744 when he too became a peer. He continued to vote with the Opposition both before and after Walpole’s fall but was one of those Tories who, on 13 Feb. 1741, voted for the Administration on the motion to dismiss Walpole. A man of miserly disposition, he was reputed to have left a large fortune at his death on 29 Nov. 1750.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Authors: Peter D.G. Thomas / R. S. Lea

Notes

• 1. HMC Egmont Diary, i. 264-5; Hervey, Mems. 482.