BERTIE, Hon. Peregrine (1741-90), of Weston-on-the-Green, Oxon.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754-1790, ed. L. Namier, J. Brooke., 1964
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1774 - 20 Aug. 1790

Family and Education

b. 13 Mar. 1741, 3rd s. of Willoughby, 3rd Earl of Abingdon, by Anna Maria, da. of Sir John Collins. educ. Westminster 1750. m. May 1790, Miss Hutchins of Yattendon, Berks., s.p.

Offices Held

Lt. R.N. 1759; cdr. 1762; capt. 1762.

Biography

Bertie sat for Oxford on the family interest. ‘Votes in opposition’, wrote the English Chronicle in 1780, ‘when he is brought to attend, which is but very seldom’; and Robinson in his survey for the general election of 1780: ‘He is constantly against and not a good attender.’ He voted in only five out of the twelve divisions 1774-80 for which lists are extant, and in three out of the six between December 1781 and the fall of North—each time with Opposition. His brother Lord Abingdon, a strong supporter of Shelburne’s Administration, undertook to bring up Bertie for the division on the peace preliminaries;1 and on 18 Feb. 1783 Bertie voted with Government. He did not vote on Fox’s East India bill.

Abingdon was a supporter of Pitt, and Bertie is so classed in the lists compiled by Stockdale and William Adam before and after the general election of 1784. But his name appears in no division list until that of the Regency. On 29 Apr. 1788 he made his only recorded speech in the House, against Administration on Bastard’s motion on the promotion of naval officers. And on the Regency he voted with Opposition, although Abingdon remained faithful to Pitt.

Bertie died 20 Aug. 1790.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: John Brooke

Notes

  • 1. Abingdon to Shelburne, 13 Feb. 1783, Lansdowne mss.