Family and Education

b. c.1710, 1st surv. s. of Sir Joseph Pennington, M.P., 2nd Bt., by Hon. Margaret Lowther, da. of John, 1st Visct. Lonsdale; his sis. Katherine  m. Robert Lowther, and was mother of Sir James Lowther 5th Bt.  unm.  suc. fa. 3 Dec. 1744.

Offices Held

Comptroller of cash in the excise 1734-8; ld. lt. Westmld. 1756-8.

Biography

Pennington came of an old Cumberland family whose natural interest in the county was strengthened by alliances with the Lowthers: he succeeded his father as Member for Cumberland, which he represented unopposed in four Parliaments. His support of Government was not uniform, and in 1754 he was classed by Dupplin as ‘doubtful’. In 1756 he was appointed lord lieutenant of Westmorland as a stop-gap for his nephew Sir James Lowther. In the new reign he adhered to Bute; in the autumn of 1763 was classed by Jenkinson as a Government supporter; and was listed among the ‘absent friends’ on general warrants, 18 Feb. 1764. Rockingham, July 1765, classed him as ‘doubtful’; and he appears as voting against the repeal of the Stamp Act, 22 Feb. 1766, in two out of the three extant division lists. In November 1766 Rockingham classed him as ‘Bute’; and Townshend in January 1767 as ‘Government’; and Pennington appears as voting with the Opposition in two of the three extant lists on the land tax, 27 Feb. 1767. He is not known to have spoken in the House.

He died 26 Mar. 1768.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: Sir Lewis Namier

Notes