SACKVILLE, Lionel Cranfield (1688-1765)

SACKVILLE, Lionel Cranfield (1688–1765)

styled Lord Buckhurst 1687-1706; suc. fa. 29 Jan. 1706 (a minor) as 7th earl of DORSET and 2nd earl of MIDDLESEX; cr. 17 June 1720 duke of DORSET

First sat 19 Jan. 1708; last sat 1 June 1759

b. 18 Jan. 1687, o. s. of Charles Sackville, 6th earl of Dorset and earl of Middlesex, and 2nd w. Lady Mary Compton (d.1691), da. of James Compton, 3rd earl of Northampton. educ. Westminster; travelled abroad (Holland, Germany, Italy) 1705–7;1 DCL Oxf. 1730. m. Jan. 1709, Elizabeth (d.1768), da. of lt. gen. Walter Colyear, 3s. 3da. (2 d.v.p.).2 KG 1714. d. 10 Oct. 1765; will 10 June 1755–6 Dec. 1764, pr. 7 Nov. 1765.3

Gent. of the bedchamber 1714–17; ld. steward 1725–30, 1737–45; ld. lt. [I], 1730–7, 1750–5; ld. pres. of the Council 1745–51; master of the horse 1755–7.

Warden of the cinque ports 1708–13,4 1714–17, 1728–65; freeman, Hythe 17115; high steward Stratford-upon-Avon 1708,6 Tamworth 1729;7 custos rot. Kent 1724–65; ld. lt. Kent 1746–65; v.-adm. of the coast 1725–65.

Associated with: Knole, Kent; Withyam, Suss.

Likenesses: oil on canvas by G. Kneller, 1710–12, NPG 3205; oil on canvas by G. Kneller, 1717, National Trust, Knole, Kent; oil on canvas by G. Kneller, 1719, Government Art Collection.

Buckhurst’s forenames bore testimony to his descent from James I’s minister, Lionel Cranfield†, earl of Middlesex. His father had pressed for the first, his grandmother for the second, and one witness at his baptism on 24 Jan. suggested that, ‘if Charles had been added then there would have been names enough to please everyone, for I think my lady the mother gave preference to that name’.8 After his mother’s death, Buckhurst’s education was largely entrusted to his grandmother, the dowager countess of Northampton.9 In 1705 he departed for a foreign tour and it was while he was still abroad in Holland that he succeeded to the earldom. At the time of his succession the family was riven by divisions, largely resulting from his father’s marriage to his former housekeeper. During his minority, management of the young lord’s estates was supervised by his grandmother and his uncle Sir Spencer Compton†, later earl of Wilmington.10

In April 1706 Dorset accompanied Charles Montagu, Baron (later earl of) Halifax, to Hanover to present the Electress Sophia with a copy of the Act of Settlement and the electoral prince, George Augustus, created duke of Cambridge later that year (the future King George II), with the order of the garter. He then seems to have proceeded to Italy, remaining there until the early summer of 1707. By mid-July he was back in Holland, where he paused to consider whether to return to England or wait for John Churchill, duke of Marlborough, so that he could accompany him on campaign.11

Although underage at the time of his succession to the peerage, Dorset was disappointed not to be appointed to the lord lieutenancy of Sussex vacated by the 6th earl’s demise.12 Both Spencer Compton and Halifax were at pains to assure him that the decision not to appoint him to the lieutenancy was in no way intended as a slight and, following their return to England, Halifax informed him that he had

acquainted my Lord Treasurer [Sidney Godolphin, earl of Godolphin] that I found your lordship concerned that the lieutenancy of Sussex was so disposed, and he expressed himself to be very sorry that you had any mortification upon that or any other account. He explained the matter just as I had done to you before and desired me to assure your lordship that whenever there is an occasion for the queen to show her favour to your lordship you will be sensible this was not done out of any disrespect or unkindness …13

In October 1707 it was reported that Dorset was to take his seat in the House but in the event it was not until 19 Jan. 1708, the day after his 21st birthday, that he first entered the chamber. He was thereafter present on 46 per cent of all sitting days.14 On 5 Feb. he voted with the majority in favour of dissolving the Scots Privy Council on 1 May rather than delaying its suppression until October.15 Marked a Whig in a list of lords’ party affiliations in May, following the dissolution Dorset employed the family interest successfully to secure the return of Richard Lumley‡ at East Grinstead.16

Following the death of the queen’s husband, Prince George, of Denmark, duke of Cumberland, in October, Dorset was appointed to the wardenship of the cinque ports. His appointment provoked the annoyance of his neighbour in Kent Thomas Fane, 6th earl of Westmorland, who had served under Prince George as deputy warden. Westmorland chose to resign his office rather than submit to serving under the young peer.17 Even so, Dorset maintained the strong tradition of adherence to the Whigs in the cinque ports and in Dec. 1709 one of the sitting Members for Dover, Matthew Aylmer‡, was returned without challenge at a by-election triggered by his acceptance of a ministerial post.18 Dorset took his seat in the House for the new Parliament on 16 Nov. 1708, after which he was present on 78 per cent of all sitting days. In December, it was speculated that he might marry one of the younger daughters of Sir John Brownlow‡, but in January 1709 he was married privately to Elizabeth Colyear (niece of David Colyear, earl of Portmore [S]), one of the queen’s maids of honour and with whom he had long been associated.19

Dorset did not allow his changed circumstances to interfere with his attendance at Parliament. On 21 Jan. 1709 he voted in favour of permitting Scots peers with British titles to vote in the elections for Scottish representative peers and on 26 Jan. he acted as one of the tellers on the question of bringing in counsel to advise in the matter of the Scots peers. On 14 Mar. he reported from the committee considering the act for reversing the outlawry of Elianor Bagot, which was agreed with amendments, and on 15 Mar. he acted as a teller for the motion whether to commit the foreign Protestants naturalization bill. Dorset was one of several peers to gather for dinner at the home of his Sussex neighbour Charles Seymour, 6th duke of Somerset, on 3 Apr., and on 14 Apr. he acted as one of the tellers in the division over the insertion of an amendment to the Union improvement bill.20

In August 1709, eight months after his appointment as lord warden, Dorset finally assumed his office.21 He was sworn in formally and marked the occasion by holding a feast in celebration at a cost of more than £214.22 The secrecy of Dorset’s marriage to Elizabeth Colyear continued to be maintained throughout much of the year and in October it was rumoured that she was to marry either Dorset or the Dutch diplomatist Monsieur Hop.23 It was only with Lady Dorset’s pregnancy the following month that news of their marriage became commonly known.24

Dorset took his seat in the second session on 15 Nov. but his attendance declined slightly, with him being present on approximately 41 per cent of all sitting days. On 21 Feb. 1710 he acted as one of the tellers in the division whether to adjourn the House during consideration of the cause of Peterborough v. Germaine. The principal action of the session, the trial of Dr Sacheverell, failed to grip Dorset: he found the occasion distinctly tedious and distasteful. On 7 Mar. he complained that ‘nobody can give a judgment when this nasty trial will be over’, and two days later lamented, ‘God only knows when this fine trial will be at an end.’25 However dull he found the process, Dorset was convinced of the doctor’s culpability and on 20 Mar. he found Sacheverell guilty of high crimes and misdemeanours. Three days later he acted as teller for those in favour of resuming the House from a committee of the whole considering the gaming bill.

Dorset was prominent in his support for one of the two loyal addresses presented to the queen by the gentlemen of Kent during the summer of 1710. The Whig address, which he sponsored, was presented by the county’s members, Sir Thomas Palmer‡ and David Polhill‡, while a rival address by the Tory sheriff was championed by Henry Somerset, 2nd duke of Beaufort.26 Dorset’s partisan support for the Whigs in the county inspired his Tory neighbour Edward Villiers, earl of Jersey, to advise William Legge, 2nd Baron (later earl of) Dartmouth, of the necessity of removing Dorset from office because his actions were encouraging ‘the choice of those who are entirely against the queen’s measures’.27 No doubt as a result of Jersey’s manoeuvrings, in September it was reported (inaccurately) that he had replaced Dorset as lord warden.28

One correspondent suggested that it was during the elections in Kent that autumn that Dorset, ‘having espoused the interest of the whiggish party’, had his family motto altered from ‘tous jours loyal’ (always loyal) to ‘aut nunquam tentes, aut perfice’ (do it perfectly or do not try at all).29 It is possible that Dorset made a point of employing the latter during the contest but in reality it was a motto that had been associated with the Sackvilles for a number of years. In spite of such posturing and the combination of his interest with that of the lord lieutenant, Dorset was unable to prevent the Tories capturing the county seats in the general election. He had better success at Dover, where the sitting members, Aylmer and Philip Papillon‡, were returned without opposition, and at Rye, where he was able to ensure the re-election of Sir John Norris‡ and Phillips Gybbon‡.30 Dorset also succeeded in maintaining his position as warden of the cinque ports but following the election he was assessed by Robert Harley, later earl of Oxford, as an opponent of the new ministry. Harley’s assessment was soon to be borne out by Dorset’s behaviour in the new session.

Dorset took his seat a few days after the opening of Parliament on 4 Dec. 1710, after which he was present on half of all sitting days. On 11 Jan. 1711 he acted as one of the tellers for the division concerning the petitions of Henri de Massue de Ruvigny, earl of Galway [I], and Charles O’Hara, Baron Tyrawley [I]. The same day he subscribed the protests at the resolution to reject the petitions and to agree with the committee that the defeat at Alamanza was occasioned by their opinions and that of General James Stanhope†, later Earl Stanhope. The following day, Dorset subscribed a further protest at the resolution to censure the ministers responsible for prosecuting the campaign. Closely involved with the passage of the game bill, on 12 May he was nominated one of the managers of what proved to be a series of conferences with the Commons considering the measure. The same day he reported from the first conference on the subject, explaining the Commons’ refusal to accept a clause added to the bill by the Lords. In response, the House appointed a committee to consider what could be offered to the Commons at a further conference, from which Dorset also reported back the same day. On 17 May he reported from a subsequent conference held with the Commons on the game bill and from the committee of the whole considering heads for a further joint conference. He then reported the progress made on the bill at the third conference held with the Commons. Dorset registered his proxy with Charles Fitzroy, 2nd duke of Grafton, on 19 May, which was vacated by his return to the House on 30 May.

The birth of a son in early 1711 had provided Dorset with an opportunity of cementing family ties while also making overtures to one of the senior members of the administration. Charles Talbot, duke of Shrewsbury, and George Compton, 4th earl of Northampton, were thus invited to stand as godfathers to the young Charles Sackville†, styled Lord Buckhurst (later 2nd duke of Dorset).31 Dorset’s own loyalties remained firmly Whig and during the summer he was accused of employing his interest at Hythe alongside that of the mayor to ensure the creation of a number of new freemen to the detriment of the Tories. Dorset himself was one of those awarded freedom of the town, while one of the Tory members for the borough, William Berners‡, was barred. Despite Dorset’s efforts, at the subsequent election in 1713 Tory candidates again secured both seats.32

Having taken his seat at the opening of the second session of the 1710 Parliament on 7 Dec. 1711, Dorset was present for just under 60 per cent of all sitting days. The following day he joined a number of peers and members of the Commons dining at the Queen’s Arms in company with Charles Bennet, 2nd Baron Ossulston (later earl of Tankerville).33 The same day (8 Dec.) he was included on a list of those in opposition to the ministry on the question of presenting the address complete with the ‘No Peace without Spain’ clause and two days later he was noted as one of the officeholders to have voted against the ministry on the issue. On 19 Dec. Dorset was forecast as opposing James Hamilton, 4th duke of Hamilton [S], taking his seat in the House as duke of Brandon but the next day he voted against preventing Scots peers from sitting in the House by virtue of post-Union British peerages. Dorset registered his proxy with William Villiers, 2nd earl of Jersey, the more amenable son of his old rival, on 9 Feb. 1712 (possibly to be used in the division of 11 Feb. on the Scottish Episcopal communion bill), which was vacated by his resumption of his seat on 14 February. On 19 May he acted as one of the tellers on the question of whether to adjourn during consideration of the grants bill and the following day he received the proxy of Charles Cornwallis, 3rd Baron Cornwallis (possibly to be employed in the division on the grants bill on 20 May), which was vacated by Cornwallis’ resumption of his seat on 24 May. On 28 May Dorset voted with the ministry against moving for an address to the queen seeking to overturn the orders preventing James Butler, 2nd duke of Ormond, from pursuing an offensive strategy.

Dorset attended five of the prorogation days between January and March 1713. He then took his seat at the beginning of the new session on 9 Apr., after which he was present on 65 per cent of all sitting days. In anticipation of the session, Jonathan Swift assessed him as a likely opponent of the ministry. At the beginning of June Dorset introduced the members for Dover to the queen, and they presented her with the town’s address.34 On about 13 June he was listed as likely to oppose the bill confirming the eighth and ninth articles of the French treaty of commerce. The same month he was replaced as warden of the cinque ports by Ormond.35 In a letter of 19 June, William Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley of Stratton, ‘wondered less at his going out than his staying in so long when he opposed the court in every thing’. He put Dorset’s eventual removal down to his failure to support the passing of the malt bill, despite his assurances to the contrary.36

Dorset’s uncle Spencer Compton was returned for East Grinstead at the general election, doubtless on the Sackville interest.37 Dorset took his seat in the new Parliament on 16 Feb. 1714 and attended on 82 per cent of all sitting days. On 20 Mar. he received the proxy of Henry Grey, duke of Kent, which was vacated on 5 Apr. (Kent may have been eager to ensure that his voice was not lost in any divisions concerning the Protestant succession, the first of which was held on the day of his return to the House). On 17 Apr. he acted as one of the tellers in a division held in a committee of the whole considering the place bill and on 11 May he again received Cornwallis’ proxy, which was vacated on 26 May. Dorset received Kent’s proxy again on 13 May (vacated on 26 May) and at the end of May or beginning of June he was estimated by Daniel Finch, 2nd earl of Nottingham, as being opposed to the schism bill. On 9 June he was again one of the tellers for a division in a committee of the whole considering the Schism bill and on 15 June he subscribed the protest at the resolution to pass the measure. Absent from the House for about a week at the close of the month, on 29 June he registered his proxy with Kent (perhaps to be used in the division on the examination of accounts bill on 30 June), which was vacated by his return to the House on 2 July. On 8 July he acted as teller for the contents on the question of the Spanish commercial treaty.

Dorset was in attendance at Kensington during the last day of the queen’s life. Immediately following her death he wrote optimistically to his wife, ‘I believe the great men of yesterday will submit very quietly.’38 Having attended just one day of the brief August session he was despatched to Hanover to convey the news of the queen’s death to George I.39 During his absence his proxy was entrusted to John Campbell, duke of Argyll [S] (sitting in the House as earl of Greenwich). Rewarded for his support for the Hanoverian succession by the new regime, Dorset was reappointed to the wardenship of the cinque ports and in September he became a gentleman of the king’s bedchamber, along with his kinsman James Berkeley, 3rd earl of Berkeley.40 In October both Lady Dorset and Lady Berkeley were appointed ladies of the bedchamber to Caroline, princess of Wales.41

Dorset continued to enjoy the favour of George I and George II. In the summer of 1715 he was thought to be one of the competitors for the lord chamberlaincy and, although he failed to secure this place and was one of those put out of office in 1717, in 1720 he was promoted in the peerage as duke of Dorset. He then continued to hold a variety of prominent offices for the remainder of his life.42 The details of the latter half of his career will be dealt with in the next phase of this work. Dorset attended the House for the final time on 1 June 1759. He died six years later on 10 Oct. 1765. In his will he constituted his widow as sole executrix and he was succeeded in the peerage by his eldest son, Charles Sackville, Lord Middlesex, as 2nd duke of Dorset.

R.D.E.E.

  • 1 C.J. Phillips, Hist. of the Sackville Family, ii. 3; Add. 61134, f. 150; Add. 61534, ff. 31, 35, 70.
  • 2 A. Collins, Mems. of the antient and noble fam. of Sackville (1741), pp. 594–5.
  • 3 TNA, PROB 11/913.
  • 4 Post Boy, 4–7 Dec. 1708, 11–13 June 1713.
  • 5 HP Commons, 1690-1715, ii. 765.
  • 6 Phillips, Sackville Family, ii. 4; London Gazette, 30 June–4 July 1713.
  • 7 A. Jacob, A Complete English Peerage (1766–9), i. 428.
  • 8 Castle Ashby, MS 1108, H. Cholmeley to Northampton, 25 Jan. 1687.
  • 9 Phillips, Sackville Family, ii. 1.
  • 10 Luttrell, Brief Relation, vi. 11; Phillips, Sackville Family, ii. 3–4.
  • 11 Add. 61534, ff. 31, 35, 70; Add. 38507, f. 7.
  • 12 HP Commons, 1690–1715, ii. 606–7.
  • 13 HMC Stopford-Sackville, i. 34.
  • 14 Luttrell, Brief Relation, vi. 226–7, 229.
  • 15 Beinecke Lib. OSB mss, fc 37, vol. 13, no. xvii.
  • 16 HP Commons, 1690–1715, ii. 607.
  • 17 Add. 34223, f. 19.
  • 18 HP Commons, 1690–1715, ii. 759.
  • 19 Clavering Corresp. ed. Dickinson (Surtees Soc. clxxviii), 23; Phillips, Sackville Family, ii. 7; HEHL, HM 30659 (110).
  • 20 TNA, C 104/113, pt. 2.
  • 21 Luttrell, Brief Relation, vi. 478.
  • 22 Dublin Gazette, 20–23 Aug. 1709; Phillips, Sackville Family, ii. 6.
  • 23 Clavering Corresp. 49.
  • 24 Bath mss at Longleat, Thynne pprs. 46, ff. 175–6; Luttrell, Brief Relation, vi. 516; Add. 72494, f. 145.
  • 25 HMC Stopford-Sackville, i. 35.
  • 26 Observator, 29 July–2 Aug. 1710.
  • 27 Kent HLC (CKS), Polhill–Drabble mss, C13/8; HP Commons, 1690–1715, ii. 308.
  • 28 Bath mss at Longleat, Thynne pprs. 47, ff. 35–36; Luttrell, Brief Relation, vi. 626; Evening Post, 5–7 Sept. 1710.
  • 29 Bodl. Rawl. letters 28, f. 68.
  • 30 HP Commons, 1690–1715, ii. 308–9, 759, 770.
  • 31 Post Man and the Historical Account, 24–27 Feb. 1711.
  • 32 HP Commons, 1690–1715, ii. 765.
  • 33 C 104/113, pt. 2.
  • 34 London Gazette, 2–6 June 1713.
  • 35 HP Commons, 1690–1715, ii. 759.
  • 36 Wentworth Pprs. 338; Add. 22220, ff. 72–73.
  • 37 HP Commons, 1690–1715, ii. 606–7.
  • 38 Phillips, Sackville Family, ii. 9.
  • 39 Add. 70070, newsletter, 14 Aug. 1714; Add. 72501, f. 154; Add. 22220, ff. 119–20; Post Boy, 3–5 Aug. 1714.
  • 40 Phillips, Sackville Family, ii. 10.
  • 41 Verney ms mic. M636/55, Fermanagh to P. Viccars, 18 Oct. 1714.
  • 42 Add. 72502, ff. 70–71; HMC Stopford-Sackville, i. 36.