Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath
Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath, 3rd Viscount Weymouth (1734-1796), English politician, was the elder son of Thomas Thynne, 2nd Viscount Weymouth (1710â€"1751), and the great-grandnephew of Thomas Thynne (c. 1640â€"1714), who was created Baron Thynne and Viscount Weymouth in 1682.
His mother was Louisa (d. 1736), daughter of
John Carteret, 1st Earl Granville, and a descendant, of the family of Granville who held the earldom of Bath from 1661 to 1711. The Thynnes are descended from Sir John Thynne, the builder of
Longleat, the splendid seat of the family in
Wiltshire. Sir John owed his wealth and position to the favour of his master, the protector
Somerset; he was comptroller of the household of the Lady
Elizabeth, and was a person of some importance after that princess became queen. Another famous member of this family was Thomas Thynne (1648â€"1682), called on account of his wealth "Tom of Ten Thousand." He is celebrated by
Dryden as
Issachar in
Absalom and Achitophel, and was murdered in
London by some Swedes in February 1682.
Born on
13 September 1734 Thomas Thynne succeeded his father as 3rd
Viscount Weymouth in January 1751 and was
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland for a short time during 1765, although he never visited that country. Having, however, become prominent in English politics he was appointed
Secretary of State for the Northern Department in January 1768; he acted with great promptitude during the unrest caused by
John Wilkes and the
Middlesex election of 1768. He was then attacked and libelled by Wilkes, who was consequently expelled from the
House of Commons.
Before the close of 1768 he was transferred from the northern to the
southern department, but he resigned in December 1770 in the midst of the dispute with
Spain over the possession of the
Falkland Islands. In November Weymouth returned to his former office of secretary for the southern department, undertaking in addition the duties attached to the northern department for a few months in 1770, but he resigned both positions in the autumn of that year.
In 1789 he was created
Marquess of Bath, and he died in November 1796. Weymouth was a man of considerable ability, especially as a speaker, but according to more, modern standards, his habits were very coarse, resembling those of his friend and frequent companion,
Charles James Fox.
Horace Walpole refers frequently to his idleness and his drunkenness, and in early life at least "his great fortune he had damaged: by such profuse play, that his house was often full of bailiffs." He married Elizabeth (d. 1825), daughter of
William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland, by whom he had three sons and ten daughters.
