Carteret, John, 1690-1763

CARTERET, JOHN, 2ND EARL GRANVILLE, eldest surviving son of George Carteret, 1st Baron Carteret, and Lady Grace Granville, subsequently created Countess Granville, youngest dau. of John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath; b. 22 Apr 1690; succ. his father as 2nd Baron Granville 22 Sep 1695; at school under Knipe; contributed to collection of verses written by the scholars on death of Duke of Gloucester, 1700; Christ Church, Oxford, matr. 15 Jan 1705/6; DCL 12 Jul 1756; took seat, House of Lords, 25 May 1711; a supporter of the Hanoverian succession; a Lord of the Bedchamber to George I, 16 Oct 1714 - Aug 1721; Bailiff of Jersey, Jul 1715; Lord Lieutenant, Devon, 13 Jul 1716 - 9 Aug 1721; joined section of Whig party headed by Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland (qv), 1717; Ambassador Extraordinary to Sweden, May 1719 - Jun 1720, securing opening of Baltic to British commerce and negotiating peace between the Baltic powers; Secretary of State, Southern Department, 5 Mar 1721 - Apr 1724; Privy Councillor 5 Mar 1721; became a favourite of George I but was not able to rival the supremacy of Sir Robert Walpole; Lord Lieutenant, Ireland, 3 Apr 1724 - Apr 1730; on intimate terms with Swift, who said that Carteret “had a genteeler manner of binding the chains of the kingdom than most of his predecessors”; offered post of Lord Steward of Household on return from Ireland, but declined to take further office under Walpole; took a prominent part in the long struggle against Walpole, and on 13 Feb 1741 unsuccessfully moved his famous resolution in the House of Lords for Walpole’s removal from office; Secretary of State, Northern Department, 12 Feb 1742 - Nov 1744; attended George II during campaign in Germany in 1743, but his pro-Hanoverian policy made him unpopular in Britain; succ. his mother as 2nd Earl Granville, 18 Oct 1744; advised the King not to admit William Pitt to office, but failed himself to form a ministry in Feb 1746; nominated KG 22 Jun 1749, installed 12 Jul 1750; Lord President of the Council from 17 Jun 1751; of the five great men who Horace Walpole believed to have lived in his time, Granville “was most a genius . . . he conceived, knew, expressed what he pleased”; a Busby Trustee from 19 Feb 1710/1; m. 1st, 17 Oct 1710 Frances, only dau. of Sir Robert Worsley, Bart.; m. 2nd, 14 Apr 1744 Lady Sophia Fermor, sister of George Fermor, 2nd Earl of Pomfret (qv); d. 2 Jan 1763. Buried in north aisle of Henry VII’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey. DNB.

International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) 2nd edition

Prepared for import into AtoM by Westminster School Archive staff, 2019-2020

Users should note that the information recorded here that is not to be found in the first two volumes of the Record of Old Westminsters and its first Supplement has been assembled from various published and manuscript sources by Hugh Edmund Pagan MA FSA, and all new resulting text is his copyright, © 2014.

The Record of Old Westminsters: A biographical list of all those who are known to have been educated at Westminster School from the earliest times to 1927, Volumes 1 & 2, compiled by G. F. Russell Barker and Alan H. Stenning, London, 1928.