Everything about William Bentinck 1st Earl Of Portland totally explained
Hans William, Baron Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland,
KG,
PC (
20 July 1649-
23 November 1709) was a
Dutch and
English nobleman who became in an early stage the favourite of
stadtholder William Henry, Prince of Orange. He was steady, sensible, modest and usually moderate. The friendship and cooperation stopped in 1699.
Biography
Hans Willem was the son of
Bernard, Baron Bentinck of
Diepenheim and descended from an ancient and noble family of
Guelders and
Overijssel. He was appointed first page of honour and
chamberlain. When, in 1675, the prince was attacked by
smallpox, Bentinck nursed him assiduously, and this devotion secured for him the special and enduring friendship of William. From that point on, Bentinck had the Prince's confidence and in their correspondence William is very open.
In 1677 he was sent to
England to solicit for the prince of Orange the hand of
Mary, daughter of
James, Duke of York, afterwards James II. He was again in England on William's behalf in 1683 and in 1685. When, in 1688, William was preparing for his
invasion, Bentinck went to some of the German princes to secure their support, or at least their neutrality, and he'd also been since 1687 a medium of communication between his master and his English friends. He superintended the arrangements for the expedition, including raising money, hiring an enormous transport fleet, organising a propaganda offensive and preparing the possible landing sites and sailed to England with the Prince.
The revolution accomplished, Bentinck was made
Groom of the Stole, first gentleman of the bedchamber, and a
Privy Counsellor. In April 1689 he was created
Baron Cirencester,
Viscount Woodstock and, in its second creation,
Earl of Portland. (The first creation of the earldom had been made for
Richard Weston in 1633, but it became extinct in 1688.) He commanded some cavalry at the
Battle of the Boyne in 1690, and was present at the
Battle of Landen, where he was wounded, and at the
Siege of Namur. But Bentinck's main work was of a diplomatic nature. In 1690 he was sent to The Hague and solve the problem between the
burgomasters of Amsterdam and
William III of Orange. Having thwarted the
Jacobite plot to murder the King in 1696, he helped to arrange the
peace of Ryswick in 1697; in 1698 he was ambassador to
Paris for six months. There he opened negotiations with
Louis XIV for a partition of the Spanish monarchy, and as William's representative, he signed the two partition treaties.
William Bentinck had, however, become very jealous of the rising influence of another Dutchman,
Arnold van Keppel, and, in 1699, he resigned all his offices in the royal household. He didn't forfeit the esteem of the King, who continued to trust and employ him. Portland had been loaded with gifts, and this, together with the jealousy felt for him as a foreigner, made him very unpopular in England. He received 135,000 acres (546 km²) of land in
Ireland, and only the strong opposition of a united
House of Commons prevented him obtaining a large gift of crown lands in North
Wales. For his share in drawing up the partition treaties he was impeached in 1701, but the case against him didn't proceed. He was occasionally employed on public business under
Queen Anne until his death at his residence,
Bulstrode Park in
Buckinghamshire. Portland's eldest son
Henry succeeded him as earl. He was created
Marquess of Titchfield and
Duke of Portland in 1716.
Codex Bentingiana
While living in Holland, Bentinck maintained a garden boasting many botanical rarities. Illustrations of these plants were collected under the name
Codex Bentingiana. This work has since disappeared from the botanical scene.
Family
Lord Portland was married twice. His first wife was
Anne Villiers (before
1633-
30 November 1688), whom he married on
1 February 1678. They had five children:
- Lady Mary Bentinck (c. 1679-20 August 1726), who married, firstly, the 2nd Earl of Essex on 28 February 1698 and had one son. She married, secondly, Sir Conyers D'Arcy (died 1 December 1758), circa August 1714 and had no issue.
- Henry Bentinck, 1st Duke of Portland
- Lady Anna Margaretha Bentinck (c. 1683-3 May 1763), who married Arent van Wassenaar, Baron van Wassenaar circa 1701 and had at least one daughter.
- Lady Frances Wilhelmina Bentinck (18 February 1684-31 March 1712), who married the 4th Baron Byron (4 January 1670-8 August 1736) on 19 December 1706 and had four children.
- Lady Isabella Bentinck (4 May 1688-23 February 1728), who married the 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull on 2 August 1714 but had no issue.
His second wife was
Jane Martha Temple (
1672-
26 May 1751), the widow of the
3rd Baron Berkeley of Stratton, whom he married on
12 May 1700. They had the following children:
Lady Sophia Bentinck (died 5 June 1741), who married the 1st Duke of Kent on 24 March 1729 and had issue.
Lady Elizabeth Adriana Bentinck (died 1765), who married Rev. The Hon. Henry Egerton (died 1 April 1746) on 18 December 1720 and had issue.
Lady Barbara Bentinck (died 1 April 1736), who married the 2nd Baron Godolphin (1707-25 May 1785) on 18 February 1734; no issue.
The Hon. William Bentinck, 1st Graf Bentinck (6 November 1704-13 October 1774), who married Charlotte Sophie Gräfin von Aldenburg (4 August 1715-5 February 1800) on 1 June 1733 and had two sons.
The Hon. Charles John Bentinck, Graf Bentinck (2 June 1708-18 March 1779), who married Lady Margaret Cadogan on 11 January 1738.
Lady Harriet Bentinck (bef. 1709-10 June 1792), who married the 1st Earl of Clanbrassill (bef. 1697-17 March 1758) on 15 October 1728 and had two children.
Styles from birth to death
Mr. William Bentinck (1649-1689)
The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Portland, PC (1689-1697)
The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Portland, KG, PC (1697-1709)Further Information
Get more info on 'William Bentinck 1st Earl Of Portland'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://william_bentinck__1st_earl_of_portland.totallyexplained.com">William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
