CHOLMONDELEY, George, Visct. Malpas (1724-1764).

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

1754 - 1761
1761 - 15 Mar. 1764

Family and Education

b. 17 Oct. 1724, 1st s. of George, 3rd Earl of Cholmondeley, by Mary, da. of Sir Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford. m. 19 Jan. 1747, Hester, da. and h. of Sir Francis Edwardes, 3rd Bt., 1s. 1da.

Offices Held

Served as volunteer at Fontenoy; commanded as lt-col. regt. of Ft. raised by his fa. 1745-6; on half-pay as capt. of Ft. 1754-60; col. 65 Ft. Dec. 1760- d.

Biography

In March 1752 Malpas stood for Dorchester, and having lost by 118 to 113 votes, did not give up his ‘endeavours to be chosen there’—writing to Newcastle, 6 Apr. 1754,1 he claimed that the interest he had formed

not only in the town but with the principal gentlemen of that country joined to an expense of upwards of a £1000 and a constant residence of upwards of two years left ... little doubt of success.

As his opposition threatened primarily Joseph Damer, Lord Milton, an Administration candidate, Henry Pelham offered to bring him into Parliament for Bramber, and Pelham’s ‘repeated solicitations’ were reinforced by ‘the commands’ of Lord Cholmondeley. On 5 Jan. 1754 Malpas wrote to Pelham from Dorchester:2

In consequence of what passed between us ... I set out with a resolution to decline being a candidate for this borough. The difficulties I have met with, in order to effect this, have been much greater than I foresaw, as my poll was stronger than Lord Milton’s, but not so strong as Mr. Pitt’s. In these circumstances what arguments could I use? to mention it as your request, to most people would have been very improper; to intimate my own fears as to the expense, I thought not advisable ... there is a discontented body here, who are much alarmed and displeased at my leaving them, and will be glad of any opportunity to foment an opposition.

Because of some ‘invidious reports’ spread by his opponents, he begged, ‘both on my own account and that of my friends here’, that his seat in Parliament ‘may be for any borough sooner than Bramber’. As Damer had sat for Bramber 1747-54, an invidious interpretation might have been put on such an exchange against a seat in that borough of one where Malpas had appealed to a party of local malcontents. Other arrangements were therefore tried by Pelham, and after his death by Newcastle; but in the end Malpas was returned for Bramber. To compensate Malpas for his previous expenses, £1,000 was paid at Bramber from secret service money, to which he had to add £500 of his own.3

In 1755 Malpas was given a secret service pension of £600 p.a., of which the first instalment appears in Newcastle’s accounts on 19 Mar. 1756 and the last on 21 Apr. 1761. What happened after that is not clear, but at the time of Bute’s resignation, Malpas wrote to his secretary, Charles Jenkinson, 13 Apr. 1763,4 about a pension given to him ‘for three years only’ and which expired on 25 Mar. 1763, but of which a year was ‘yet unpaid’. And that he held one at the time of his death appears from Grenville’s letter to his widow, 9 June 1764, refusing to recommend its continuance to her.5

In 1761 Malpas was returned for Corfe Castle on the interest of John Bond. In the House he counted throughout as a supporter of Administration; was included in Fox’s list of Members favourable to the peace preliminaries; and over the division on general warrants, 18 Feb. 1764, was placed by Jenkinson among ‘friends absent’. He died 15 Mar. 1764.

I have just lost my nephew, Lord Malpas [wrote Walpole to Mann, 18 Mar.] a worthy amiable man, whom I have loved from his childhood. But my grief is light compared to that of poor Lady Malpas. He married her sixteen years ago, with no considerable portion of beauty, and less fortune, though of an exceedingly good family. As his father’s profusion called for his restoring the estate, we lamented this match; but it proved a blessing: there never was a more prudent, estimable woman. They lived in the happiest union. Above two months ago he went to his regiment in Ireland and came away ill. He arrived in Town last Monday, grew immediately worse; it turned to an inflammation of his bowels, and carried him off in five days. There is but a slender provision for his widow, and less for his only daughter.

 

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: Sir Lewis Namier

Notes

  • 1. Add. 32735, ff. 52-53.
  • 2. Add. 32734, ff. 19-20.
  • 3. See Newcastle’s paper of 8 Apr. 1754, Add. 32995, f. 201.
  • 4. Bute mss.
  • 5. Grenville letter bk.