MAULE, William (1700-82), of Brechin Castle, Forfar.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1 May 1735 - 4 Jan. 1782

Family and Education

b. 1700, 3rd but 1st surv. s. of Hon. Harry Maule, M.P. [S], of Kellie, Forfar by his 1st w. Lady Mary Fleming, da. of William, 5th Earl of Wigtown [S]; half-bro. of John Maule. educ. Leyden 1718; Scots Coll. in Paris 1719. unm. suc. e. bro. James as titular Lord Maule 1729, fa. as titular Earl of Panmure [S] 23 June 1734; cr. Earl of Panmure of Forth [I] 6 Apr. 1743.

Offices Held

Ensign 1 Ft. Oct. 1727; capt. 25 Ft. 1737, capt. and lt.-col. 3 Ft. Gds. 1741, maj. 1745; col. army 1745; col. 25 Ft. 1747; col. 21 Ft. 1752; maj.-gen. 1755; lt.-gen. 1758; gen. Apr. 1770; col. 2 Drags. Nov. 1770-d.

Biography

Maule’s father, with his brother, the Earl of Panmure, took a prominent part in the rebellion of 1715, after which he fled to Holland, returning to Scotland in 1719 under the general indemnity. In 1723 the death in exile of Lord Panmure, attainted of high treason, made him head of the family, whose chief object became the recovery of their forfeited estates and honours. His sons, James and William, were presented at court on George II’s accession, when James was disappointed of his hopes of entering Parliament but William obtained a commission in the army. The family then placed themselves under the protection of Lord Ilay, from whom Maule’s father, now titular Earl of Panmure, received through Lord Lovat a message during the political crisis caused by the excise bill in 1733:

He bid me acquaint your Lordship that the present dispute in Scotland is not between Whig and Tory, but is plainly a design of my Lord Aberdeen and my Lord Stair, joined with the Squadrone [the anti-Argyll party in Scotland], to turn his brother [the Duke of Argyll] and him out, that they might govern Scotland themselves ... He told me frankly that if your Lordship would bring off your friends from joining the Squadrone, that he, having now the north administration in his hands, would use his endeavour to restore your Lordship’s family, and did not doubt of success if you give him a handle for it.1

Ilay did not procure the restoration of the Panmure estates, but with his support William Maule, having become head of the family by the deaths of his elder brother and his father, was returned for Forfarshire, which he represented till his death. Voting with the Government, both before and after Walpole’s fall, he was put down under ‘Winnington’ in the Cockpit list of government supporters in October 1742, and obtained an Irish peerage in 1743. During the war of the Austrian succession he served at Dettingen and Fontenoy. Though charged by the Duke of Cumberland in February 1746 with being ‘brought into Parliament by the Jacobite interest’,2 he was listed that year by Newcastle as ‘Old Whig’. It was not, however, until 1764 that he recovered his family’s estates. He died Jan. 1782.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Romney R. Sedgwick

Notes

  • 1. Registrum de Panmure, ed. J. Stuart, i. pp. lxxxii-v, cxxxix-cxli.
  • 2. More Culloden Pprs. v. 36.