Sir Walter Bagot, MP, 3rd Baronet

Family and Education b. 21 Mar. 1644, 3rd but 1st surv. s. of Sir Edward Bagot, 2nd Bt., by Mary, da. and h. of William Lambard of Buckingham. educ. Christ Church, Oxf. 1662; M. Temple 1666. m. lic. 25 June 1670, Jane (d. 1695), da. and h. of Charles Salusbury of Bachymbydd, Denb., 5s. (2 d.v.p.) 5da. (1 d.v.p.). suc. fa. as 3rd Bt. 30 Mar. 1673.1

Offices Held

Commr. inquiry into offences in Needwood forest, 1687.2

Biography Bagot was descended from a family which claimed to have held property in Staffordshire since the reign of William I. He sat for the county in five successive Parliaments between 1679 and 1690, but his service had been undistinguished, punctuated as it was by severe bouts of ill-health. Possibly for this reason he did not stand in the 1690 election. However, the death of Walter Chetwynd* in March 1693 forced him back into the political arena. A group of Whigs led by Philip Foley* attempted to set up Hon. Henry Paget* at the ensuing by-election. This manoeuvre was blocked by the Tories, who accused Paget of ignoring the tradition by which the candidates were agreed by the gentry at a county meeting. Bagot was set up at such a meeting in October 1693 and his candidacy widely publicized in a circular letter signed by many leading gentry. Faced by this show of strength, and unsure of being able to triumph at the poll, Paget desisted, leaving Bagot to be returned unopposed.3

Bagot is not mentioned in the Journals, nor does his name appear on the one parliamentary list extant from his period of service in the House, which named Court supporters. His attendance was probably limited by ill-health, which continued to trouble him. In April 1695 he was noted as one of a group of Denbighshire landowners opposing a grant to the Earl of Portland of crown lands in Wales, but he was not in London when the group’s representatives lobbied the Treasury. He did not stand at the 1695 election. By 1698 he had obviously decided to transfer his interest to his son, Edward*, as he wrote in March of that year that he was ‘so totally disabled that I can do my country no further service’. Although he was included in the lieutenancy commission of March 1701, he had resigned this to his son by May 1703. He died on 15 Feb. 1705, his remains being buried under the altar of Blithfield church.4

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715 Author: Stuart Handley Notes 1. W. Bagot, Hist. Fam. Bagot, 75. 2. Staffs. RO, Vernon mss D1790/A/4/3. 3. G. Wrottesley, Hist. Bagot Fam. 2–5; Hereford and Worcester RO (Hereford), Foley mss Box E12/F/IV/BE, [%E2%80%93] to Philip Foley, n.d.; ‘gents.’ circular letter, 4 Oct. 1693; E12/IV/BE/273, 275, William Nabbs to Philip Foley, 17, 18 Oct. 1693. 4. Cal. Treas. Pprs. 1557–1696, p.438; Cal. Treas. Bks. x. 1051, 1202; Wm. Salt Lib. (Stafford), Bagot mss D/1721/3/291, Edward Bagot to [%E2%80%93], 1 Mar. 1697–8 (Horwitz trans.); CSP Dom. 1700–2, p. 250; 1703–4, p. 278; Bagot, 79.

Family and Education b. 21 Mar. 1644, 3rd but 1st surv. s. of Edward Bagot. educ. Christ Church, Oxf. 1662; M. Temple 1666. m. lic. 25 June 1670, Jane (d. 20 July 1695), da. and h. of Charles Salusbury of Bachymbydd, Denb., 5s. (2 d.v.p.) 5da. suc. fa. 30 Mar. 1673.1

Offices Held

Commr. for assessment, Staffs. and Denb. 1677-80, Staffs. 1689, Denb. 1689-90; j.p. Staffs. 1677-Mar. 1688, Oct. 1688-?d., dep. lt. 1677-June 1688, Oct. 1688-1703; commr. for inquiry into recusancy fines, Staffs. 1687, Cheshire, Mar. 1688.2

Biography According to his memorial inscription Bagot ‘had the honour to be unanimously chosen one of the representatives of this county in seven Parliaments’. The extremely modest election expenditure shown in his accounts confirms the unanimity claimed for his elections; but only six have been officially recorded. He first represented Staffordshire in the Exclusion Parliaments, and was marked ‘base’ on Shaftesbury’s list. His only committee in 1679 was on the bill for the better attendance of Members, and he was absent from the division on the first exclusion bill. During the second Exclusion Parliament he was given leave to appear in the Lords as a witness to sustain the credibility of Dugdale’s evidence against Lord Stafford. His only committee was for the disbandment accounts (24 Dec. 1680). ‘Often disabled by a complication of infirmities from attending the service’, he left no trace on the records of either the Oxford Parliament or James II’s Parliament; but he was listed among the Opposition in 1687. To Lord Aston, the Roman Catholic lord lieutenant, he said that he could not agree to the abrogation of the Penal Laws and Test Act ‘unless there might be an equivalent for securing the religion according to the Church of England’, and therefore he could not be expected to support candidates pledged to unconditional repeal. Nevertheless he was appointed to the local commissions of inquiry into recusancy fines, and Aston sought to retain him on the lieutenancy until he alleged ‘his disability to anything of business by reason of the extraordinary fits of gout and stone he is almost always labouring under’.3

Bagot had only just recovered by the general election of 1689, but he was returned to the Convention in which he was totally inactive. He did not vote to agree with the Lords that the throne was not vacant, and on 18 May he was given leave to go into the country. He lost his seat at the general election, but regained it as a Tory in 1693. He died on 15 Feb. 1705 and was buried at Blithefield. His epitaph claims that ‘he was hospitable and temperate, courteous and yet sincere. ... By his prudent management [he] improved his estate without impairing the reputation of his family.’ His son, the 4th baronet, sat for the county as an independent Tory from 1698 to 1708.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690 Author: A. M. Mimardière Notes 1. Mems. Bagot Fam. 75; Staffs. Parl. Hist. ii. 137-8. 2. Staffs. Dep. Lts. (Wm. Salt Arch. Soc. 1931), 285; Cal. Treas. Bks. viii. 1695, 1804. 3. Mems. Bagot Fam. 79; CJ, ix. 668; State Trials, vii. 1397-8; CSP Dom. 1687-9, p. 210. 4. Mems. Bagot Fam. 79, 115.