Background
In 1722, William was elected to Parliament as member for Honiton. And he succeeded his father, the third baronet, in 1731.
In 1722, William was elected to Parliament as member for Honiton. And he succeeded his father, the third baronet, in 1731.
In the House of Commons he attached himself to the Whigs, and making himself useful to Sir Robert Walpole, was rewarded with a commissionership of the treasury in 1724. George II, who conceived a strong antipathy to Sir William, spoke of him as "Stinking Yonge". But Yonge obtained a commissionership of the admiralty in 1728, was restored to the treasury in 1730, and in 1735 became Secretary at War.
He especially distinguished himself in his defence of the government against a hostile motion by Pulteney in 1742.
In 1748 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society. He died at Escot, near Honiton, on 10 August 1755.
He enjoyed some reputation as a versifier, some of his lines being even mistaken for the work of Alexander Pope, greatly to the disgust of the latter. And he wrote the lyrics incorporated in a comic opera, adapted from Richard Brome"s The Jovial Crew, which was produced at Drury Lane in 1730 and had a considerable vogue.
He was a founding governor of a charity called the Foundling Hospital, which worked to alleviate the scourge of child abandonment.
Royal Society; 11th Parliament of Great Britain. 6th Parliament of Great Britain. 7th Parliament of Great Britain.
8th Parliament of Great Britain.
9th Parliament of Great Britain. 10th Parliament of Great Britain.
5th Parliament of Great Britain.