The Right Honourable
The Lord Mendip
PC FRS
Portrait by Anton Hickel
Secretary of State for the Colonies
In office
February 1782 – 8 March 1782
MonarchGeorge III
Prime MinisterLord North
Preceded byLord George Germain
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Personal details
Born(1713-12-15)15 December 1713
England, Kingdom of Great Britain
Died2 February 1802(1802-02-02) (aged 88)
England, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

Welbore Ellis, 1st Baron Mendip, PC, FRS (15 December 1713 – 2 February 1802) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons for 53 years from 1741 to 1794 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Mendip. He held a number of political offices, including briefly serving as Secretary for the Colonies in 1782 during the American War of Independence.

Background

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Ellis was the second but only surviving son of the Most Reverend Welbore Ellis, Bishop of Kildare and Bishop of Meath. He was educated at Westminster School from 1727 to 1732 and then entered Christ Church, Oxford.

Political career

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In 1741, he was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Cricklade, then moved to Weymouth and Melcombe Regis (1747–1761), Aylesbury (1761–1768), Petersfield (1768–1774), Weymouth and Melcombe Regis (1774–1790) and Petersfield (1791–1794).[1]

In 1762, he succeeded Charles Townshend as Secretary at War, and in 1763, he proposed the appropriation of twenty army regiments to the colonies of America. In Parliament, with many others, he opposed the reception of papers from the American Continental Congress. He became Treasurer of the Navy in 1777, then succeeded to the Colonial Secretaryship in 1782, which he held for a matter of months, before the American colonies were lost. In 1784, he became the longest-serving member of the House of Commons (having served for 43 years non-continuously), becoming the honorary Father of the House.

He was created Baron Mendip, of Mendip in the County of Somerset, in 1794 in recognition of his governmental service. The peerage was created with remainder to the three eldest sons of his sister Anne by her husband Henry Agar, of Gowran and Gowran Castle.

Personal life

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Portrait by Timothy Collopy

In 1738 he inherited a large fortune from his uncle, John Ellis and built Clifden House in Brentford.

He married firstly in 1747 Elizabeth, the daughter and heiress of Sir William Stanhope and secondly in 1765 Anne, the daughter of George Stanley of Paultons, Hampshire. Ellis nevertheless died childless in February 1802, aged 88, and was succeeded in the barony according to the special remainder by his great-nephew, Henry Welbore Agar, 2nd Viscount Clifden, who assumed the surname of Ellis two years later.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "ELLIS, Welbore (1713–1802), of Tylney Hall, Hants". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
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Parliament of Great Britain Preceded bySir Thomas Reade, BtCharles Gore Member of Parliament for Cricklade 1741–1747 With: Sir Thomas Reade, Bt Succeeded byJohn GoreWilliam Rawlinson Earle Preceded byJohn TuckerJoseph DamerJohn RaymondJames Steuart Member of Parliament for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis 1747–1761 With: Richard Plumer 1747–51George Dodington 1747–54Edward Hungate Beaghan 1747–54Lord George Cavendish 1751–54Lord John Cavendish 1754–61George Dodington 1754–61John Tucker 1754–61 Succeeded byJohn TuckerSir Francis Dashwood, BtJohn OlmiusRichard Glover Preceded byJohn WillesJohn Wilkes Member of Parliament for Aylesbury 1761–1768 With: John Wilkes 1761–64Anthony Bacon 1764–68 Succeeded byAnthony BaconJohn Durand Preceded byJohn JolliffeRichard Croftes Member of Parliament for Petersfield 1768–1774 With: William Joliffe Succeeded byWilliam JoliffeSir Abraham Hume, Bt Preceded byJohn TuckerThe Lord WalthamSir Charles Davers, BtJeremiah Dyson Member of Parliament for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis 1774–1790 With: John Tucker 1774–78William Chaffin Grove 1774–81John Purling 1774–90Gabriel Steward 1778–80, 1780–16 & 1788–90Warren Lisle 1780William Richard Rumbold 1781–84Sir Thomas Rumbold, Bt 1784–90George Jackson 1786–88 Succeeded bySir James PulteneyRichard JohnstoneAndrew StuartThomas Jones Preceded byWilliam JoliffeMarquess of Titchfield Member of Parliament for Petersfield 1791–1795 With: William Joliffe Succeeded byWilliam JoliffeCharles Greville Political offices Preceded byCharles Townshend Secretary at War 1762–1765 Succeeded byThe Viscount Barrington Preceded bySir Gilbert Elliot, Bt Treasurer of the Navy 1777–1782 Succeeded byIsaac Barré Preceded byThe Lord George Germain Secretary of State for the Colonies 1782 Succeeded by— Preceded byCharles Frederick Father of the House 1784–1790 Succeeded byWilliam Drake Peerage of Great Britain New creation Baron Mendip 1794–1802 Succeeded byHenry Welbore Ellis
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