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BECKFORD, PETER, only son of Julines Beckford (qv); b.; adm. (aged 8) Jan 1747/8 (Butler's); in school list 1752; New Coll. Oxford, matr. 12 Apr 1757; of Iwerne Stepleton, Dorset; travelling in Italy 1765-6; High Sheriff, Dorset 1780; MP Morpeth 1768-74; a man of many accomplishments, and a famous sportsman; hunted the country subsequently known as the South Dorset; went to live permanently in Italy 1783; author, Thoughts upon Hare and Fox Hunting, 1781, Essays on Hunting, 1781, and Familiar Letters from Italy to a Friend in England, 1805; m. 22 Mar 1773 Hon. Louisa Pitt, dau. of George Pitt, 1st Baron Rivers; d. 18 Feb 1811. DNB.

BLADEN, MARTIN, son of Nathaniel Bladen, Bolton Percy, Yorks., and Isabella, dau. of Sir William Fairfax, Kt., Steeton, Yorks.; b.; adm.; KS 1695; left 1697; St. John’s Coll. Cambridge, adm. pens. 17 Apr 1697, aged 16, matr. 1697; adm. Inner Temple, 23 Mar 1696/7; Ensign, Col. T. Fairfax’s Regt. of Foot, 12 Dec 1697; Ensign of a company added to this Regt. in Ireland, 1 Mar 1702; Capt., Sir Charles Hotham’s new Regt. of Foot, 25 Mar 1705; served in Low Countries and Spain; ADC to Lord Galway; attained rank of Brevet Col.; Col. of a British Regt. raised in Spain, 26 Oct 1709; sold out 26 Jun 1710; Comptroller of the Mint, 23 Dec 1714-27; MP Stockbridge 1715-34, Maldon 1734-41, Portsmouth from 1741; Joint Secretary to Lord Justices of Ireland and to Lord Lieut. of Ireland Sep 1715 - Apr 1717; MP (I) Bandon Bridge 1715-27; Privy Councillor (I) 1 Nov 1715; director, Royal African Company, 1717-26; a Commissioner of Trade and Plantations from 13 Jul 1717; Joint Commissioner to Court of France for settling plantation boundaries in America, 1719-20; First Commissioner and Plenipotentiary to the Conference for settling commerce at Antwerp, Jun 1732 - Feb 1742; one of Sir Robert Walpole’s steadiest supporters in the House of Commons; author of Solon (a tragi-comedy), 1705, and of an English translation of Caesar’s Commentaries, 1712; m. 1st, Mary, dau. of Col. --- Gibbs; m. 2nd, 29 Mar 1728 Frances, widow of John Foche, Aldborough Hatch, Essex, and niece of Col. Joseph Jory, West India merchant; d. 15 Feb 1745/6. DNB.

BROWNE, ISAAC HAWKINS, son of Rev. William Browne, Vicar of Burton on Trent, Staffs., and Prebendary of Lichfield, and Ann, dau. of Isaac Hawkins; b. 21 Jan 1705-6; in under school lists as Browne 1715-7; adm. (or readm. ) (aged 13) Feb 1719/20, as Isaac Hawkins; Trinity Coll. Cambridge, adm. pens. 12 Sep 1721, matr. Easter 1723; BA 1725/6; adm. Lincoln’s Inn 5 Jun 1722, called to bar 27 Jun 1728; of Badger Hall, Shropshire; MP Wenlock 7 Dec 1744-54; FRS 2 Feb 1749/50; according to Dr Johnson he was “one of the first wits of this country” and “of all conversers the most delightful” (Boswell, Life of Johnson, ed. G. B. Hill, ii, 339); author, De Animi Immortalitate, 1754, and other poems, an edition of which was published by his son in 1768; m. 10 Feb 1744 Jane, dau. of Ven. David Trimnel DD, Archdeacon of Leicester; d. 14 Feb 1760. DNB.

BURGOYNE, JOHN, second son of Capt. John Burgoyne, Sherborne, Warwicks., and Anna Maria, dau. of Charles Burneston, Hackney, Middlesex; b. 4 Feb 1722/3; in school lists 1733, 1735-8; an intimate friend of James Smith Stanley, Lord Strange (qv); Cornet, 1st Royal Dragoons, 14 Jul 1743; Lieut., 22 Feb 1745; Capt., 1 Jul 1745; sold out 31 Oct 1751, on account of his debts, and resided for some years in France and Italy; re-entered Army as Capt., 11th Dragoons, 14 Jun 1756; Capt. -Lieut. and Lieut. -Col., 2nd Foot Guards, 10 May 1758; served in expeditions to Cherbourg and St. Malo 1758-9; raised 16th Dragoons and gazetted as Lieut. -Col. commandant, 4 Aug 1759; served in Portugal as Brig. -Gen., 1762; Brevet Col., 8 Oct 1762; Col. 16th Dragoons, 18 Mar 1763 - Oct 1779; Governor of Fort William 1769-79; Maj. -Gen., 25 May 1772; served in America 1775; present at battle of Bunker Hill; second in command under Sir Guy Carleton in Canada, 1776, in supreme command 1777; Lieut. -Gen., 29 Aug 1777; surrendered to Gates at Saratoga, 17 Oct 1777; allowed by Washington to return to England on parole, where he resigned his regiment and governorship; on the return of his political friends to power in 1782 became Commander-in-Chief, Ireland, 7 Jun 1782, holding post to 1784; Col., 4th Foot, from 7 Jun 1782; MP Midhurst 1761-8, Preston from 29 Nov 1768; proposed in 1772 that the East India Company should be controlled by the government; made a violent attack on Clive in May 1773, and was a manager of the impeachment of Warren Hastings, 1787; Privy Councillor (I) 4 May 1782; member, Society of Dilettanti, 1772; contributed to the Rolliad and Probationary Odes; author, The Heiress, 1786, and other plays; m. 1743 Lady Charlotte Stanley, sister of James Smith Stanley, Lord Strange (qv); d. 4 Aug 1792; buried North Cloister, Westminster Abbey. DNB.

BURKE, WILLIAM, eldest son of John Burke (or Bourke), Middle Temple and St. James’s, London, and his first wife Elizabeth, dau. of Thomas Burke, London, vintner; b.; adm. (aged 13) Sep 1742 (Durand's); KS 1743; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1747, matr. 26 Jun 1747, Westminster Student 24 Dec 1747 - 26 Jun 1761 (void), leave of absence on appt. as Secretary, Guadeloupe, 25 Aug 1759; BCL 1755; adm. Middle Temple 26 May 1750, called to bar 28 Nov 1755; Secretary and Registrar, Guadeloupe, 1759-63; Under-Secretary of State, Jul 1765 - Feb 1767; MP Great Bedwyn 16 Jun 1766-8, 29 May 1768-74; lost substantial sums of money in speculations on the Stock Exchange, 1769; in India 1777-8, becoming agent for Rajah of Tanjore; again in India 1780-93, initially at Madras, subsequently at Calcutta; Deputy Paymaster of the Forces, East Indies, 1782-93; present at OWW dinner at Calcutta 1783 (Hickey, Memoirs, iii, 245-6); figures in Goldsmith’s Retaliation; lived on intimate terms with his distant kinsman Edmund Burke, with whom he wrote An Account of the European Settlements in America, 1757; author of two pamphlets on the peace negotiations, 1759 and 1761; d. Mar 1798. DNB.

CORBETT, THOMAS, eldest son of William Corbett, Nanteos, Cardiganshire, and Middle Temple, London, and Eleanor, dau. of Col. John Jones, Nanteos, Cardiganshire; b.; adm.; KS (Capt. ) 1701; joined Royal Navy as ordinary seaman 23 Mar 1703/4; acted initially as clerk, from 14 Dec 1704, and then as secretary, Sep 1705-9, 1711, to Adm. Sir George Byng (afterwards 1st Viscount Torrington); Judge-Advocate and Deputy Treasurer of the Fleet [check]; a clerk in the Admiralty 17 Jan 1715-23; again secretary to Byng when in command of British fleet in Sicilian waters 1718-20 [check]; Secretary to Greenwich Hospital 1716-36; Chief Clerk, Admiralty, 15 Mar 1723-8, Deputy Secretary 27 Jul 1728-41; Secretary to Admiralty from 29 Apr 1741; MP Saltash from 6 Feb 1733/4; m. 31 Jan 1740/1 Mary Lloyd, Duke Street, London; d. 30 Apr 1751. DNB.

FITZPATRICK, HON. RICHARD, brother of John Fitzpatrick, 2nd Earl of Upper Ossory (qv); b. 24 Jan 1747/8; in school list 1764; Page of Honour to Queen Charlotte Sep 1761 – Sep 1765; according to his old schoolfellow, George O’Brien Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont (qv), “he was a page : and as in those days courts were very frequent, a great part of his time [while at school] was lost in sedan-chairs, and drawing-rooms, and in the necessary preparation of powder and pomatum” (Lord John Russell, Memorials and Correspondence of C. J. Fox, 1853, I, 9); left Christmas 1764; Ensign, 1st Foot Guards 10 Jul 1765; Military Academy, Caen 1767; Grand Tour (before 1770, when elected member Society of Dilettanti); Lieut. and Capt., 13 Sep 1772; served in American war 1777-8; Capt. and Lieut. -Col., 23 Jan 1778; Col. in the Army 20 Nov 1782; ADC to George III 16 Nov 1782; ret. 11 Apr 1783; Maj-Gen., 12 Oct 1793; Lieut. -Gen., 1 Jan 1798; Gen., 25 Sep 1803; Col., 11th Foot, 20 Apr 1806 – Feb 1807, 47th Foot from 25 Feb 1807; MP Okehampton 20 Oct 1770-4, Tavistock 1774-1807, Bedfordshire 1807-12, Tavistock from 1812; Chief Secreatary for Ireland Apr - Aug 1782; Privy Councillor (I) 4 May 1782; LLD Trinity Coll. Dublin 18 May 1782; MP (I) Maryborough 1782-3; Secretary at War Apr - Dec 1783; Privy Councillor 14 Apr 1783; again Secretary at War Feb 1806- Mar 1807, combining post with that of Lieut. -Gen. of the Ordnance; intimate friend and political ally of Charles James Fox; one of the authors of The Rolliad; d. 25 Apr 1813. DNB.