Family and Education

b. ?1727, 1st s. of Arthur Vansittart of Shottesbrook by Martha, da. and coh. of Sir John Stonhouse, 3rd Bt., M.P.; bro. of George and Henry Vansittart.  educ. Reading sch.; Eton 1742; New Coll. Oxf. 1 Dec. 1744, aged 17; M. Temple 1742.  m. 11 Aug. 1773, Hon. Anne Hanger, da. of Gabriel, 1st Baron Coleraine [I], 3s. 1da.  suc. fa. 16 Sept. 1760.

Offices Held

Biography

Vansittart was a wealthy, independent, Tory country gentleman, whose three elections for Berkshire were all unopposed. In his obituary he is stated to have served in Parliament ‘with much honour to himself and advantage to his constituents’,1 but he made no mark in the House and apparently never spoke in debate. He appears in Fox’s list of Members favourable to the peace preliminaries (December 1762) and was usually classed as a Government supporter, but his recorded votes in the Parliament of 1761-8 were all against Government: on general warrants, 18 Feb. 1764, the repeal of the Stamp Act, 22 Feb. 1766, and the land tax, 27 Feb. 1767. On 15 Apr. and 8 May 1769 he voted with Government on the Middlesex election, but against them on the same question, 26 Apr. 1773. Still, in this Parliament he usually adhered to Government, and in Robinson’s electoral survey of September 1774 was listed on their side. He retired from Parliament at that general election, and died 12 Nov. 1804.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: John Brooke

Notes

• 1. Gent. Mag. 1804, p. 1237.