Sir Charles Davers, MP, 6th (and last) Baronet

Family and Education b. 4 June 1737, 3rd s. of Sir Jermyn Davers†, 4th Bt., of Rougham by Margaretta, da. of Rev. Edward Green of Drinkstone. educ. Bury St. Edmunds sch. 1744, Trinity Coll. Camb. 1755; Grand Tour. unm. 5s. 3da. by Frances Treice with whom he lived c.1768-d.1 suc. bro. Robert as 6th Bt. June 1763.

Offices Held

Lt. 48 Ft. (America) 1758; capt. 99 Ft. Jan. 1761, 44 Ft. Oct. 1761; Irish half-pay 1766; maj. commdt. Bury vols. 1798.

Biography Davers owed his seats in Parliament to his alliance with the 3rd Duke of Grafton, who encouraged him to cultivate his family interest at Bury at the expense of his brother-in-law the 4th Earl of Bristol. An independent country gentleman, he had ranged himself against Pitt’s ministry, without formally associating himself with the Whigs. Thus in the Suffolk election of 1790, he was a supporter of Rous and Bunbury.2 His own return was unopposed. He is not known to have spoken in debate. He voted against Pitt on the Oczakov question, 12 Apr. 1791, but was hostile to the repeal of the Test Act that month. In December 1792 his name was queried on a list of Portland Whigs and he was not a ‘third party’ recruit. His line accorded basically with Grafton’s.3 He did not vote against the war until 30 Dec. 1794, but he did so again on 26 Jan. and 27 May 1795. (On 3 June he took three weeks’ leave.) On 25 Nov. 1795 he presented a petition from Bury against the bills curtailing civil liberty. The Treasury regarded him as an opponent; but in the ensuing election, he headed the poll and it was the duke’s son who faced defeat.

Davers voted with opposition on the subsidy questions, 8 and 14 Dec. 1796, before taking leave of absence. His last known vote was for parliamentary reform, 26 May 1797; he had supported it in 1783. On 16 Mar. 1801 he was granted leave of absence to attend the Suffolk assizes. He retired in 1802, letting in Lord Charles Fitzroy, who had lost his seat at the previous election. This closed a chapter in the electoral history of Bury. Davers was the last of his line, ‘a good specimen of the type known as the English country gentleman’.4 He died 4 June 1806, leaving his property to his nephew Frederick William Hervey*, 5th Earl of Bristol.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820 Author: Winifred Stokes Notes 1. He was rumoured to have married in America Miss Coutts, a planter’s daughter, and had a son, Rushbrook Par. Registers, 386-7. 2. Add. 19215, f. 72. 3. PRO 30/8/139, f. 195. 4. Gent. Mag. (1806), ii. 677