Background
Sir Charles Wyndham was born on 19 August 1710, the son of Sir William Wyndham, of Or- chard-Wyndham, Somerset, and his first wife, Katherine, daughter of Charles Seymour, sixth Duke of Somerset.
Sir Charles Wyndham was born on 19 August 1710, the son of Sir William Wyndham, of Or- chard-Wyndham, Somerset, and his first wife, Katherine, daughter of Charles Seymour, sixth Duke of Somerset.
He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford.
He entered the House of Commons as Tory M.P. for Bridgwater in 1735, lost his seat there in 1741, but was then returned for Appleby. He had become a Whig by that time, and supported the proposal to take Hanoverian troops into British pay. In June 1740 he succeeded to his father’s baronetcy and Somerset estates, and was elected to represent the family borough of Taunton in 1747. (He was elected also for Cockermouth, but preferred the Somerset seat.)
On 22 March 1751 he moved the House of Lords address of condolence to the king on the death of Frederick, Prince of Wales. In the same year he was appointed lord lieutenant of Cumberland. He also acquired a political reputation, although he was very rarely involved in political debates.
In 1757, Egremont was asked to become secretary of state in the ministry that James Walde- grave, second Earl Waldegrave, was attempting to form, but he declined the offer. He was then involved in several other political ventures before becoming secretary of state for the Southern Department (home secretary), replacing William Pitt, the Elder, in October 1761. He remained in that post for a little less than two years, through the governments of the Duke of Newcastle, the Earl of Bute, and George Grenville, the last of whom happened to be his brother-in-law.
Egremont’s position was strengthened in April 1763 when George Grenville, his brother- in-law, was persuaded to become prime minister. This was a short-lived ministry, however, during which Egremont’s main task seems to have been to order the arrest, imprisonment, and prosecution of John Wilkes, the beacon of liberty at this time, for publishing issue number 45 of North Briton. Egremont died at the beginning of September 1763.
The second Earl of Egremont was not the most able of politicians and, in the character of the age, owed much of his political success to preferment and family connections. But he did take advantage of political opportunities that arose.
His contemporary and more recent critics have denied his parliamentary ability and pointed to his avarice, and few political observers would rank his political skills above the ordinary.
In 1751 he married Alicia Maria, daughter of George Carpenter, second Baron Carpenter of Killaghy, and sister of the first Earl of Tyrconnel.