Lieutenant General John West

Family and Education b. 4 Apr. 1693, o.s. of John West, 6th Baron de la Warr, by Margaret, da. and h. of John Freeman, London merchant, wid. of Thomas Salwey, merchant. educ. Eton 1707; Grand Tour. m. (1) 25 May 1721 (secretly), Lady Charlotte MacCarthy (d. 7 Feb. 1735), da. of Donogh, 4th Earl of Clancarty [I], 2s. 3da.; (2) 15 June 1744, Anne, da. of Nehemiah Walker, a sea captain of Mdx., wid. of George Nevill, 13th Lord Abergavenny, s.p. suc. fa. as 7th Baron de la Warr 26 May 1723; K.B. 27 May 1725; cr. Visct. Cantelupe and Earl de la Warr 18 Mar. 1761.

Offices Held

Standard bearer, gent. pensioners 1712-14; guidon and 1st maj. 1 tp. Horse Gds. 1715, lt. and lt.-col. 1717; capt. and lt.-col. 1 Ft. Gds. 1730; col. 1 tp. Horse Gds. 1737-d.; brig.-gen. 1743; maj.-gen. 1745; lt.-gen. 1747; gen. of Horse 1765.

Clerk extraordinary to Privy Council 1712-23; verderer, Windsor Park 1718; ld. of the bedchamber 1725-7; P.C. 12 June 1731; treasurer of the Household June 1731-7; ambassador, Saxe Gotha, Mar. 1736; gov. Levant Co. 1736-d.; gov. New York July-Sept. 1737; gov. Gravesend and Tilbury 1747-52; gov. Guernsey 1752-d.

Biography Returned as a Whig for Grampound, West voted with the Administration in every recorded division, except that on Lord Cadogan in June 1717, when he voted with the Whig Opposition. He did not stand in 1722. After his accession to the peerage in 1723, he became one of the principal ministerial representatives in the Lords.1 On his appointment to escort the Princess of Saxe Gotha to England for her marriage with the Prince of Wales in 1736, Hervey observed that West, now Lord de la Warr,

if the King chose him to prevent the Prince’s having any jealousy of the future bride’s affections being purloined on the way by him who was sent to attend her to England, was the properest man his Majesty could have pitched upon; for, except his white staff and red ribband as knight of the Bath, I know of nothing belonging to the long, lank, awkward person of Lord Delaware that could attract her eyes; nor do I believe there could be found in any of the Goth or Vandal courts of Germany a more unpolished ambassador for such an occasion.2 He died 16 Mar. 1766.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754 Author: Eveline Cruickshanks Notes 1. Hervey, Mems. 713. 2. Ibid. 548-9.

Wikipedia Biographical Summary

"Lieutenant-General John West, 1st Earl De La Warr KB, PC, FRS (4 April 1693 – 16 March 1766), styled The Honourable John West until 1723 and known as The Lord De La Warr between 1723 and 1761, was a British soldier, courtier and politician.

Background

West was the son of John West, 6th Baron De La Warr, by Margaret, daughter and heiress of John Freeman, a London merchant.

Military and political career

After travelling in Europe West was appointed Clerk-Extraordinary of the Privy Council in 1712. In 1715 he was returned to parliament as one of two representatives for Grampound, a seat he held until 1722. In 1715 he also became a guidon and 1st major of the 1st Troop of Horse Guards and was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1717. In 1723 he succeeded his father in the barony of De La Warr and entered the House of Lords. He was appointed a Lord of the Bedchamber to George I and made a Knight of the Order of the Bath in 1725. In 1728 he was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society.

In 1731 Lord De La Warr was sworn of the Privy Council and appointed Treasurer of the Household, a position he held until 1737. In 1732 he was appointed speaker of the House of Lords in the absence of Lord King, the Lord Chancellor. He was a supporter of tough sanctions against the city of Edinburgh after the Porteous Riots of 1736. The latter year he was sent on a special mission to Germany to escort Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha to Britain, where she was to become the wife of Frederick, Prince of Wales. Lord Hervey, who described De La Warr as a "long, lank, awkward person", thought that "no fitter selection could have been made to disarm the jealousy of the prince, and that a more unpolished ambassador for such an occasion could not have been found in any of the Goth or Vandal courts of Germany." De La Warr and the future Princess of Wales landed at Greenwich in April 1736.

In 1737 De La Warr was appointed Governor of New York and New Jersey. However, he never travelled to America. He continued his military career while being active in the House of Lords and fought at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743 during the War of the Austrian Succession. He became a Brigadier-General in 1743, a Major-General in 1745, a Lieutenant-General in 1747 and a General of the Horse in 1765 and was Colonel of the 1st Troop of Horse Guards between 1737 and 1766. In 1752 he was appointed Governor of Guernsey, a post he held until his death.[2] In 1761 George III created him Viscount Cantelupe and Earl De La Warr.

Family

Lord De La Warr was twice married. He married firstly Charlotte, daughter of Donough MacCarthy, 4th Earl of Clancarty, in 1722. They had two sons and two daughters, including Lady Diana, wife of Sir John Clavering. After his first wife's death in February 1735 he married secondly Anne, daughter of Nehemiah Walker and former wife of Lord Abergavenny, in 1742. There were no children from this marriage. Anne died in June 1748. Lord De La Warr remained a widower until his death in March 1766, aged 72. He was succeeded by his eldest son, John, Viscount Cantelupe."

SOURCE: Wikipedia contributors, 'John West, 1st Earl De La Warr', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 4 March 2013, 07:45 UTC, <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_West,_1st_Earl_De_La...> [accessed 13 April 2013]