Sir Charles Whitworth ( – 21 August 1778) was a British politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

for 31 years from 1747 to 1778. He was known for his expertise in statistics and finance.

Early life

Whitworth was the son of Joan Windham of Clarewell,

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, and

Francis Whitworth Francis Whitworth (9 May 1684 – 6 March 1742), of Leybourne, Kent and Blackford, near Minehead, Somerset, was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1723 to 1742. Early life Whitworth was the sixth son of Richard Whitworth ...

, Member of Parliament for

Minehead Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, north-west of the county town of Taunton, from the boundary with the county of Devon and close to the Exmoor National Park. T ...

from 1723 to 1742 and was educated at

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It descends from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the Norman Conquest, as do ...

and at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

. His paternal uncle was Charles Whitworth, 1st Baron Whitworth.

Career

Whitworth represented the constituencies of

from 1747 until 1761, and

Bletchingley Bletchingley (historically "Blechingley") is a village in Surrey, England. It is on the A25 road to the east of Redhill and to the west of Godstone, has a conservation area with medieval buildings and is mostly on a wide escarpment of the Gre ...

until 1768, in which year he was knighted. He then represented Minehead until 1774, East Looe until 1775 and

Saltash Saltash () is a town and civil parish in south Cornwall, England. It had a population of 16,184 in 2011 census. Saltash faces the city of Plymouth over the River Tamar and is popularly known as "the Gateway to Cornwall". Saltash’s landmarks ...

until his death in 1778. He served in the army for a short time and was made lieutenant-governor of Gravesend and Tilbury for life in 1758. Whitworth was

Chairman of Ways and Means In the United Kingdom, the Chairman of Ways and Means is a senior member of the House of Commons who acts as one of the Speaker's three deputies. The current holder is Nusrat Ghani, following her election to the position on 23 July 2024. H ...

from 1768 until his death. The major contribution made by Sir Charles to the statistics of Great Britain consisted of the production of the first complete Balance of Trade (Visible trade) for the country together with individual commercial accounts of Great Britain and all known countries during the period 1697–1773, a major task he completed two years before his death. Whitworth was an active early member of the

Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce The Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, founded in 1754, was the precursor of The ''Royal'' Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce now more usually known as the RSA. The original Society gaine ...

in 1754.

Personal life

In 1749, Whitworth married Martha Shelley (d. 1786), the daughter of Richard Shelley, a commissioner of the stamp office. Together, they had three sons and four daughters, including: *

Charles Whitworth, 1st Earl Whitworth Charles Whitworth, 1st Earl Whitworth (29 May 1752 – 13 May 1825), known as Lord Whitworth between 1800 and 1813 and as Viscount Whitworth between 1813 and 1815, was a British diplomat and politician. Early years Whitworth, the eldest of the ...

(1752–1825), who married Arabella Diana, Duchess of Dorset ( Cope), daughter of Sir Charles Cope, Bt. and widow of

John Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset, KG (25 March 174519 July 1799) was the only son of Lord John Philip Sackville, second son of Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset. His mother was the former Lady Frances Leveson-Gower. He succeede ...

, in 1801. * Catharine Whitworth (d. 1805), who married Philip Cade in 1761. They divorced in 1772 and she married Henry Aylmer, 4th Baron Aylmer, son of Henry Aylmer, 3rd Baron Aylmer, in 1774. After his death in 1785, she married Howell Price in 1787. She married Bowles sometime after 1787.G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, ''The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14'' (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes,

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

Alan Sutton Publishing The History Press is a British publishing company specialising in the publication of titles devoted to local and specialist history. It claims to be the United Kingdom's largest independent publisher in this field, publishing approximately 300 ...

, 2000), volume I, page 369. * Priscilla Whitworth (1759–1833), who married Sir Bellingham Graham, 6th Baronet, son of Sir Bellingham Graham, 5th Baronet, in 1785. * Anna Barbara Whitworth (d. 1814), who married Sir Henry Russell, 1st Baronet, in 1782.Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.''

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...

(Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 3, pp. 3442-3443. Sir Charles died on 22 August 1778.Pages 418 to 423,

Lewis Namier Sir Lewis Bernstein Namier (; 27 June 1888 – 19 August 1960) was a British historian of Polish-Jewish background. His best-known works were '' The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III'' (1929), ''England in the Age of the Ame ...

, ''

The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III ''The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III'' is the title of a book written by Lewis Namier. At the time of its first publication in 1929, it caused a historiographical revolution in understanding the 18th century by challenging t ...

'' (2nd edition – London: St Martin's Press, 1957)

Descendants

Through his youngest daughter Anna, he was a grandfather of Sir Henry Russell, 2nd Baronet, Charles Russell (MP for

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

), Francis Whitworth Russell (who married Jane Anne Catherine Brodie), Rev. Whitworth Russell (who married Frances Carpenter), George Lake Russell (who married Lady Caroline Pery, a daughter of the 1st Earl of Limerick), Katherine Russell (who married Henry Jones), Caroline Russell (who married Commander Henry Fortescue, grandson of the 2nd Baron Fortescue), Rose Aylmer Russell (who married Henry Porter), and Henrietta Russell (who married Thomas Greene of Whittington Hall, MP for

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

References

1720s births 1778 deaths People educated at Westminster School, London Members of Lincoln's Inn Knights Bachelor Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for constituencies in Cornwall Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 Year of birth uncertain {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub