Family and Education

bap. 28 Jan. 1703, 1st surv. s. of Edward Shafto of Hexham by Mary, da. of George Delaval of Dissington, sis. of Adm. George Delaval of Little Bavington; cos. of Francis Blake Delaval and John Hussey Delaval. unm. suc. his uncle at Little Bavington 1723 and took name of Delaval.

Offices Held

Biography

In 1757 Delaval applied to Newcastle for his support in the Northumberland election: ‘My constant attachment to his Majesty and his family’, he wrote to the Duke, 7 Oct., ‘may, I hope, entitle me to the favour of those that have the honour to serve the Government in this county.’1 He received Government support and was returned unopposed. On 10 May 1760 he complained to Newcastle:2

I have not received the least mark of your Grace’s regard for me since I have been in Parliament ... From the honour of being known to your Grace and the situation I am in of a representative of the county of Northumberland, I thought I had some claim to a share of the little employments that I always understood were disposed of at the solicitation of Members of Parliament. I assure your Grace my constituents think so, and often tell me I am not warm in their interest.

In 1761 and 1768 Delaval was again returned unopposed. In Bute’s list of 1761 he is classed as ‘Tory’. Though not listed by Henry Fox among Members favourable to the peace preliminaries, December 1762, he does not appear in the minority lists of 9 and 10 Dec. He voted with Opposition in three divisions on general warrants, February 1764, but in the list of 18 Feb. he is described by Jenkinson as a friend normally voting with Government. In Newcastle’s list of 10 May 1764 he is marked ‘doubtful’; in Rockingham’s, July 1765, ‘pro’, but in November 1766 as ‘doubtful’, while Charles Townshend, January 1767, described him as ‘Government’. He voted against Administration on the land tax, 27 Feb. 1767, and on nullum tempus, 17 Feb. 1768. He again voted with Opposition in two divisions on the Middlesex election, 15 Apr. and 8 May 1769; on the Address, 9 Jan. 1770, and again on the Middlesex election, 25 Jan. 1770. He does not appear as having voted in any other division, and there is no record of his having spoken in the House. On 12 July 1774 he wrote to his constituents: ‘My late ill-state of health, which has prevented my attendance on my parliamentary duty, makes it necessary for me to decline offering myself at the general meeting.’

He died January 1782.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: Sir Lewis Namier

Notes

• 1. Add. 32874, f. 499.
• 2. Add. 32905, ff. 395-6.