Background
Bertie was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, the second eldest son of Willoughby Bertie, 3rd Earl of Abingdon and Anna Maria Collins.
Bertie was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, the second eldest son of Willoughby Bertie, 3rd Earl of Abingdon and Anna Maria Collins.
Bertie was a music patron and composer, as well as a political writer During his time in England (1791–1792, 1794-1795), Abingdon was a patron of Haydn"s, who may have encouraged him to compose. Abingdon is credited with the composition of one hundred and twenty musical works.
He and his family lived at Rycote in Oxfordshire and in 1769 he funded the construction of the Swinford Toll Bridge across the River Thames near Eynsham.
Abingdon earned himself the reputation of a political maverick. His obituary in the Gentleman’s Magazine remarked that “his frequent speeches in the House of Peers were peculiarly eccentric”.
In 1761, he sold the manor of West Lavington, Wiltshire to Robert Palmer and Thomas Walker, and in 1762, he sold the manor of Frilsham, Berkshire to George Amyand. With her he had at least four sons:
Willoughby Bertie, Lord Norreys (8 February 1779 – 20 February 1779)
Willoughby Bertie, Lord Norreys (born 9 April 1781), died in infancy
Montagu Bertie, 5th Earl of Abingdon (30 April 1784 – 16 October 1854)
Captain
Honorary Willoughby Bertie (24 June 1787 – 19 December 1810), married Catherine Jane Saunders on 26 November 1808, lost commanding HMS Satellite.
Posthumous son Willoughby Vere Bertie (20 April 1811 – 26 July 1812)
Honorary Peregrine Bertie (30 July 1790 – 17 October 1849)
Review Honorary Frederic Bertie (12 February 1793 – 4 February 1868), married Lady Georgiana Anne Emily Kerr, daughter of Lord Mark Kerr in 1825
Lady Caroline Bertie (d 12 March 1870), married Charles John Baillie-Hamilton on 23 January 1821
Abingdon was plagued by financial problems from the moment he inherited the earldom.
With his own extravagant lifestyle doing little to alleviate his problems, he died insolvent in 1799.
Much of his estates at Westbury, Wiltshire were sold off over a period from 1777 through his death.
An outspoken critic of Lord North and his administration, he rigorously defended the liberties of the American colonies, yet denounced the French Revolution as a threat to “the Peace, the Order, the Subordination, the Happiness of the whole habitable Globe.” He argued that the movement for the abolition of the slave trade was simply the result of a “new philosophy” inspired by the new French republic.