Sir Sidney Meadows (c. 1699 – 15 November 1792) was a British Member of Parliament and
Knight Marshal
The Knight Marshal is a former office in the British Royal Household established by Henry III in 1236. The position later became a Deputy to the Earl Marshal from the reign of Henry VIII until the office was abolished in 1846.
The Knight Marsha ...
of the King's Household during the reign of
George II and
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...
.
Family
He was the eldest son of the diplomat
Sir Philip Meadowes (1672-1757), of Brompton, Kensington, and his wife Dorothy, daughter of
Edward Boscawen
Admiral of the Blue Edward Boscawen, Privy Council (United Kingdom), PC (19 August 171110 January 1761) was a Royal Navy officer and politician. He is known principally for his various naval commands during the 18th century and the engagements ...
. On 2 June 1742 he married Jemima, daughter of
the Hon.
''The Honourable'' (Commonwealth English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of cert ...
Charles Montagu of Durham and granddaughter of
Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich
Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, (27 July 1625 – 28 May 1672), was an English military officer, politician and diplomat from Barnwell, Northamptonshire. During the First English Civil War, he served with the Parliamentarian army, and was ...
. Earl Sandwich's grandson -
Edward Montagu - and his wife
Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Empress Elisabeth (disambiguation), lists various empresses named ''Elisabeth'' or ''Elizabeth''
* Princess Elizabeth ...
, leader of the
Blue Stockings Society
The Blue Stockings Society was an informal women's social and educational movement in England in the mid-18th century that emphasised education and mutual cooperation. It was founded in the early 1750s by Elizabeth Montagu, Elizabeth Vesey and ...
, were Meadows' brother and sister-in-law.
Horace Walpole
Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (; 24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English Whig politician, writer, historian and antiquarian.
He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London ...
references the wealth of Sir Sidney and Lady Meadows in his published correspondence.
Eveline Cruickshanks
Eveline Cruickshanks (1 December 1926 – 14 November 2021) was a historian of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century British political history, specialising in Jacobitism and Toryism. She was of English, Scottish and French descent. She was an ...
MEADOWS, Sidney (c.1699-1792), of Conholt, nr. Andover, Hants.
in ''The History of Parliament
The History of Parliament is a project to write a complete history of the United Kingdom Parliament and its predecessors, the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of England. The history will principally consist of a prosopography, in w ...
: the House of Commons 1715-1754'' (1970).
In 1768, Queen Charlotte "set the worthy
King
King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...
to work to patch up" with Sir Sidney the scandal of the "stolen marriage" Sir Sidney's daughter Frances (1741-1769) - Charlotte's
Maid of Honour
A maid of honour is a junior attendant of a queen in royal households. The position was and is junior to the lady-in-waiting. The equivalent title and office has historically been used in most European royal courts.
Tudors and Stuarts
Traditi ...
- had made with Captain Campbell, "a penniless officer". Despite not "giving notice to the queen or her father", Charlotte kept the peace and generously gave "her late maid of honour a thousand pounds". Frances died in "