Robert Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven

Lord Ancaster

Robert Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven PC (20 October 1660 – 26 July 1723), styled 17th Baron Willoughby de Eresby between 1666 and 1701 and known as 4th Earl of Lindsey between 1701 and 1706 and as 1st Marquess of Lindsey between 1706 and 1715, was a British statesman and nobleman.

Background

Bertie was the son of Robert Bertie, 3rd Earl of Lindsey and Elizabeth Wharton.

Political career

Lord Willoughby entered Parliament as Member of Parliament for Boston in 1685, and sat in the Loyal Parliament (1685–1687) and the Convention Parliament (1689–1690). He was commissioned captain of an independent troop of horse raised to suppress the Monmouth Rebellion on 20 June 1685.^[1] In 1690, he was returned for Preston instead, but was soon forced to leave the House of Commons for the House of Lords after receiving a writ of acceleration as Baron Willoughby de Eresby. He served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from 1689 until 1697.

Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire

Lord Willougby inherited the earldom of Lindsey on his father's death in 1701, and was invested a Privy Counsellor one month later; along with the Earldom of Lindsey, he also inherited the offices of Lord Great Chamberlain and Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire, both of which he would hold until his death and would pass onto his son, the 2nd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven. Lord Lindsey, as he was now styled, was then created Marquess of Lindsey in 1706, and was finally created Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven in 1715 (that year, he also served temporarily as a Lord Justice).

In 1715 he employed Sir John Vanbrugh to design a baroque front to his house at Grimsthorpe to celebrate his ennoblement as first Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven.

Family

On 30 July 1678, Lord Willoughby married Mary Wynn (d. 20 September 1689), a Welsh heiress, daughter of Sir Richard Wynn, 4th Baronet and direct descendent of the princely house of Aberffraw. They had five children:

• Robert Bertie, Lord Willoughby (6 February 1683 – 4 May 1704), died while studying at the Wolfenbüttel Ritter-Akademie
• Peregrine Bertie, 2nd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven (1686–1742)
• Lady Elizabeth, Lady Eleanor, and Lady Mary Bertie, who died unmarried.

After the death of his first wife in 1689, he married Albinia Farington, daughter of Maj.-Gen. William Farington, by whom he had:

• Lord Vere Bertie (d. 1768)
• Capt. Lord Montagu Bertie (d. 12 December 1753), married Elizabeth Piers (d. 1782), daughter of William Piers; their daughter Augusta married John Fane, 9th Earl of Westmorland in 1758
• Capt. Lord Thomas Bertie (24 July 1720 – 21 July 1749)
• Lt.-Gen. Lord Robert Bertie (1721–1782)
• Lady Louisa Bertie, married Thomas Bludworth in 1736

Ancaster died in July 1723, aged 62, an established but relatively unheralded statesman. His widow remarried to James Douglas and died in 1745.

Notes

References

• "Bertie genealogy". Retrieved 2007-09-05.