Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (1672–1739)

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For other people named Thomas Wentworth, see Thomas Wentworth (disambiguation).

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford
Bornc. 1672
Died15 November 1739
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchBritish Army
Years of service1688–1715
RankLieutenant-General
Unit1st (Royal) Dragoons
AwardsOrder of the Garter

Lieutenant-General Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (of the 2nd creation), KG (baptised 17 September 1672 – 15 November 1739), also known as in Jacobite Peerage as the 1st Duke of Strafford and 3rd Baron Raby from 1695 to 1711, was an English peer, diplomat and statesman who served as First Lord of the Admiralty.

Background

Thomas was the eldest surviving son of Sir William Wentworth of Northgatehead—who served as

High Sheriff of Yorkshire—and his wife Isabella Apsley, daughter of the prominent Royalist commander Sir Allen Apsley and his wife Frances Petre. His paternal grandfather, Sir William Wentworth of Ashby Puerorum, was a younger brother of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford

His education seems to have been deficient; critics said that he was almost illiterate, by which they simply meant not reading Latin and ancient Greek and certainly, his spelling was appalling. This, combined with his reputation among his enemies as a very poor public speaker would lead many to question his qualifications to be a diplomat. He could read, write and speak French and German. Jonathan Swift said that while he was lively and spirited, he was "proud as hell".[1]

Military career

In about 1687, he was a

groom of the bedchamber to the king.[2]

When his cousin William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford died without issue on 16 October 1695, Wentworth succeeded him as the 3rd Baron Raby. He did not inherit the Strafford fortune or the Jacobean house, Wentworth Woodhouse which passed to the second earl's nephew, Thomas Watson, son of his sister Anne.

Raby was commissioned colonel of the Royal Regiment of Dragoons in 1697 and appointed deputy lieutenant of Lincolnshire on 21 May 1700. He was employed as ambassador extraordinary to Berlin in March 1701, the first of several missions he undertook to Prussia. Under Queen Anne, Raby became a brigadier of horse on 7 January 1703 and a major general on 1 January 1704.[2]

Diplomat

From 1703 to 1704 and 1705 to 1711 he was Queen Anne's ambassador to Berlin. There he secured the services of Johann von Bodt and Thomas Eosander to design Wentworth Castle, at Stainborough in Yorkshire, built, largely directed by letter from a distance, from about 1710 to 1720. While serving abroad, on 1 January 1707, he was commissioned a lieutenant general. From March 1711 to 1714 he was the British ambassador at The Hague.[3]

On 14 June 1711, he was sworn of the

Knight of the Garter. After the death of Anne, he was one of the Lords Justices who represented George I until the new king arrived in Great Britain.[2]

Strafford was a representative of Great Britain at the

Congress of Utrecht, and in 1715 was impeached for his share in concluding the resulting treaty, but the charges against him were not pressed to a conclusion[3]

Conspirator

Strafford retired to Wentworth Castle. He was a leading conspirator in the

Jacobite Peerage of England on 5 June 1722 by the Old Pretender.[5] On the collapse of the Plot, the Government, while fully aware of his deep involvement, decided to take no action against him, and he lived out his last years in peace. He would occasionally still attend House of Lords
debates, although he was a very bad public speaker.

Marriage and issue

On 6 September 1711, he married Anne Johnson, daughter and heiress of Sir

Member of Parliament for Aldeburgh in Suffolk, by his first wife Anne Smithson,[6] daughter and heiress of Hugh Smithson of Friston and Aldborough, 3rd son of Sir Hugh Smithson, 1st Baronet, of Stanwick, Yorkshire (ancestor of Hugh Percy (Smithson), 1st Duke of Northumberland).[7]
Anne brought him a dowry rumoured to be £60,000. The marriage was both advantageous and happy and her letters show their deep mutual affection. By his wife he had issue, one son and three daughters as follows:

Death and succession

Thomas Wentworth died on 15 November 1739 of

kidney stones, after years of failing health and was succeeded in his titles by his only son William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford
(1722–1791).

Notes

  1. ^ Patrick Eyres, ed. New Arcadian Journal 31/32, p. 17
  2. ^ a b c d Doyle, James William Edmund (1886). The Official Baronage of England, v. 3. London: Longmans, Green. pp. 415–416.
  3. ^ a b c Chisholm 1911.
  4. The Cambridge Companion to Handel, edited by Burrows, Donald, (Cambridge University Press, 1997), page 97
    online at books.google.co.uk (accessed 5 March 2008)
  5. ISBN 0-8063-1716-7
    ) p. 171
  6. ^ "Strafford, Earl of (GB, 1711 – 1799)". Cracroftspeerage.co.uk. 25 June 2005. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  7. ^ Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 15th Edition, ed. Pirie-Gordon, H., London, 1937, p. 2403 "Vernon-Wentworth of Wentworth Castle"

References

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External links

Military offices
Preceded by
Edward Matthews
 Colonel of The Royal Regiment of Dragoons
1697–1715 		Succeeded by
Diplomatic posts
Unknown
British Ambassador to Prussia

1705–1711 		Unknown
Next known title holder:
The Earl of Forfar
Preceded by
British Ambassador to the Netherlands

1711–1714 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by First Lord of the Admiralty
1712–1714 		Succeeded by
Peerage of Great Britain
New creation Earl of Strafford
2nd creation
1711–1739 		Succeeded by
Peerage of England
Preceded by Baron Raby
1st creation
1695–1739 		Succeeded by
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