Archbishop of Canterbury - KU ScholarWorks - The University of ...

Notes 163
[But] Providence, that seems concerned t'exempt
The hallow'd bench from absolute contempt,
In spite of all the wrigglers into place,
Still keeps a seat or two for worth and grace
And therefore 'tis, that though the sight be rare,
We sometimes see a Lowth or Bagot there.
—William Cowper
Ld Ch Justice Prat: Charles Pratt (1714-1794), who was created Baron
Camden and then first Earl Camden (1786). He sat as M.P. for
Downton 1757-62 and had a distinguished legal career: lord chief justice
of Common Pleas 1762-66, lord chancellor 1766-70, and lord president
of the council 1782-83 and again from 1784 until his death (Namier and
Brooke, H.C, III, pp. 322-23). A friend of the elder Pitt, he achieved
distinction by the role he played in the Wilkes case.
D, of Grafton: Augustus Henry Fitzroy (1735-1811), who succeeded his
grandfather as third duke in 1757. He served as a member of the House
of Commons 1756-57 and also lord of the bedchamber to the Prince of
Wales. He had opposed Bute on the Wilkes question and became
secretary of state for the northern department in the first Rockingham
administration of 1765 but resigned when Pitt would not support it. He
was also first lord of the treasury 1766-70, elected in 1768 chancellor of
Cambridge University and twice held the office of lord privy seal
(1771-75 and 1782-83). Namier characterized him somewhat strongly:
"immature, sensitive and uncertain, he feared responsibility and lacked
authority" (Namier and Brooke, H.C, II, p. 435). Of liberal opinions
in religious matters, he was later a member of the Unitarian congregation
at the Essex chapel in the Strand, London.
Ld Rockingham: Charles Watson-Wentworth (1730-1782), who became
the second marquess in 1750. He headed two brief ministries,
1765-66 (which repealed the Stamp Act) and March-July, 1782. His
political career was largely one of frustrations since he held office for
only about 15 months. Horace Walpole cuttingly described him as
"ambitious, with excessive indolence; fond of talking of business, but
dilatory in the execution," adding that his single talent "lay in
attracting dependants ..." (G.E.C., Complete Peerage). He was the
patron and friend of Burke.
my nephew Frost: Thomas Frost. There is a memo from the duke of
Newcastle to Rockingham requesting employment for Frost, dated 12
December, 1765, in B.L. Add. MS 32,972, fol. 212. He was a principal
heir in the archbishop's will. See below on this folio for Seeker's gifts to
him.