John Bullock (1731–1809)
Colonel John Bullock of Faulkbourne M. P. was an English landowner and Member of Parliament for 56 years becoming Father of the House and a prominent member of the Bullock family. John Bullock was born in 1731, the eldest surviving son of Josiah Bullock J. P. D. L. of Faulkbourne and Mincing Lane and Hannah Cooke, youngest daughter of Sir Thomas Cooke, Member of Parliament for Colchester and governor of East India Company. He was educated as a fellow commoner at Lincoln's Inn, he succeeded to Faulkbourne Hall on the death of his father in 1752. At the age of 23, he embarked on a parliamentary career that lasted 56 years and culminated in him becoming father of the house until his death, his period in the house spanned the Seven Years’ War, the War of American Independence, the French Revolution and the earlier Napoleonic Wars. He sat as a fellow member with the Pitts, Burke and Sheridan, he commenced his parliamentary career in 1754 as member for Maldon. In 1774, he temporarily abandoned his parliamentary career for reasons of cost and it was not until 1780 that he returned to the house.
He was returned as member for Steyning in Sussex in 1780, which returned two members until the Reform Bill of 1832. Steyning began returning two Members of Parliament from 1278 and as a rotten borough made up of a depopulated port became similar to Dunwich until the Reform Act 1832. In 1784, he shared the representation of the County of Essex with Thomas Bramston of Screens and sat as Whig Member for the county continuously and without contest for 26 years until his death in 1809; this absence of contest was due a "family compact", the outcome of the ruinous expenses of the two previous elections, by which for more than thirty years one Whig and one Tory were returned. The colonel's second co-member was Admiral Harvey; the Colonel is recorded as being a member of Boodle's club in St James's in 1787. Despite the efforts of other parliamentarians, the colonel resisted attempts to make him understand the complexities of foreign affairs and his kinsman, the Duke of Bedford, described him as "a good-natured fox-hunting boy".
Colonel Bullock never made a speech in Parliament during his career. The long duration of the "compact" was due to the high respect in which Colonel Bullock was held throughout the county for his political independence and he was well-liked. At his death, the peaceful state of affairs came to an end, he was a colonel in the East Essex Battalion Militia and is recorded at the second in command at the first mustering on 15 November 1759 and at the mustering on 19 April 1778 during the time of the American War of Independence. He took a keen interest in Faulkbourne Hall and undertook many improvements to the house and grounds in the 18th century. A drawing shows a Palladianisation of the west front, but the work seems to have taken it back to - and extended - the gothic original look, he ordered fine tapestries from Aubusson in armorial porcelain from China. A patron of the arts, he founded a wide-ranging collection of pictures. In 1803, the house contained many good paintings by van Dyck, Van de Velde, Sir William Beechey and other masters.
Whilst his wife Elizabeth was a considerable heiress to large slum estates in Southwark over 17 acres containing 400 houses, he exhausted a large part of her fortune on Parliamentary life. She died in 1793 and they had no children, he left his estates on his death, in 1809, to his nephew, Jonathan Josiah Christopher Watson, son of his sister, Elizabeth who had married Jonathan Watson JP DL FRS of Ringhall in Suffolk. In 1810, Jonathan Josiah Christopher took the surname Bullock under Royal Sign Manual; the death of the colonel without issue led to the first break in the regular family succession for more than 200 years, since John Bullock of Mulsham founded the Essex Branch of the family. A fine portrait was painted by Gainsborough showing the colonel in full uniform resting his left elbow on a pedestal which supports a classic urn. In his right hand, he holds his laced hat. By his side sits a large Newfoundland dog. In the background are trees and water; the Gainsborough portrait has been at auction several times in the past 25 years: it made £1.2m in 1987, £2.65m in 2002, both times setting a world record for Gainsborough.
Before the 1987 sale it had been in the same British collection for 90 years - for a long time it was on loan to the government, hung at 10 Downing St for two years. Bullock family Faulkbourne Sir Edward Bullock Professor Walter Llewellyn Bullock Sir Christopher Bullock
Brigade major
A brigade major was the chief of staff of a brigade in the British Army. He most held the rank of major, although the appointment was held by captains, was head of the brigade's "G - Operations and Intelligence" section directly, oversaw the two other branches, "A - Administration" and "Q - Quartermaster". Intentionally ranked lower than the lieutenant-colonels commanding the brigade's combat battalions, his role was to expand on, detail and execute the intentions of the commanding brigadier. In 1913, staff captains of artillery in the British Army were re-styled as brigade majors to bring them into line with cavalry and infantry practice. In the 21st century, the title is no longer used except in the Household Division and in divisional-level artillery headquarters; as of 2014, the title is still retained by HQ London District. During World War I, the brigade major was "a key personality who affected the health and happiness of the battalions." He was in most frequent contact with the front-line troops and was responsible for planning brigade operations.
Many brigade majors held the rank of captain, e.g. the future prime minister, Anthony Eden, was a brigade major at the age of twenty-one. The practice of using brigade majors has continued in some Commonwealth armies, such as that of India; the position was a standard fixture in the British Army and Canadian Army until between 1982 and 1984 when the NATO system was adopted and brigade G-3 known as "Chief of Staff", replaced the brigade major. In the old system, the brigade major was a Staff Officer 2 in charge of "G Branch", abbreviated "GSO2", General Staff Officer. Staff
Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British statesman, regarded as the de facto first Prime Minister of Great Britain. Although the exact dates of Walpole's dominance, dubbed the "Robinocracy", are a matter of scholarly debate, the period 1721–1742 is used, he dominated the Walpole–Townshend ministry and the subsequent Walpole ministry and holds the record as the longest-serving British prime minister in history. Speck says that Walpole's uninterrupted run of 20 years as Prime Minister "is rightly regarded as one of the major feats of British political history... Explanations are offered in terms of his expert handling of the political system after 1720, his unique blending of the surviving powers of the crown with the increasing influence of the Commons", he was a Whig from the gentry class, first elected to Parliament in 1701 and held many senior positions. He looked to country gentlemen for his political base. Historian Frank O'Gorman says his leadership in Parliament reflected his "reasonable and persuasive oratory, his ability to move both the emotions as well as the minds of men, above all, his extraordinary self-confidence".
Hoppit says Walpole's policies sought moderation: he worked for peace, lower taxes and growing exports and allowed a little more tolerance for Protestant Dissenters. He avoided controversy and high-intensity disputes as his middle way attracted moderates from both the Whig and Tory camps. H. P. Dickinson sums up his historical role by saying that "Walpole was one of the greatest politicians in British history, he played a significant role in sustaining the Whig party, safeguarding the Hanoverian succession, defending the principles of the Glorious Revolution He established a stable political supremacy for the Whig party and taught succeeding ministers how best to establish an effective working relationship between Crown and Parliament". Walpole was born in Houghton, Norfolk in 1676. One of 19 children, he was the third son and fifth child of Robert Walpole, a member of the local gentry and a Whig politician who represented the borough of Castle Rising in the House of Commons, his wife Mary Walpole, the daughter and heiress of Sir Geoffrey Burwell of Rougham, Suffolk.
Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole was his younger brother. As a child, Walpole attended a private school at Norfolk. Walpole entered Eton College in 1690 where he was considered "an excellent scholar", he matriculated at King's College, Cambridge on the same day. On 25 May 1698, he left Cambridge after the death of his only remaining elder brother, Edward, so that he could help his father administer the family estate to which he had become the heir. Walpole had planned to become a clergyman but as he was now the eldest surviving son in the family, he abandoned the idea. In November 1700 his father died, Robert succeeded to inherit the Walpole estate. A paper in his father's handwriting, dated 9 June 1700, shows the family estate in Norfolk and Suffolk to have been nine manors in Norfolk and one in Suffolk; as a young man, Walpole had bought shares in the South Sea Company, which monopolized trade with Spain, the Caribbean and South America. The speculative market for slaves and mahogany spawned a frenzy that had ramifications throughout Europe when it collapsed.
However, Walpole had bought at the bottom and sold at the top, adding to his inherited wealth and allowing him to create Houghton Hall as seen today. Walpole's political career began in January 1701 when he won a seat in the general election at Castle Rising, he left Castle Rising in 1702 so that he could represent the neighbouring borough of King's Lynn, a pocket borough that would re-elect him for the remainder of his political career. Voters and politicians nicknamed him "Robin". Like his father, Robert Walpole was a member of the Whig Party. In 1705, Walpole was appointed by Queen Anne to be a member of the council for her husband, Prince George of Denmark, Lord High Admiral. After having been singled out in a struggle between the Whigs and the government, Walpole became the intermediary for reconciling the government to the Whig leaders, his abilities were recognised by Lord Godolphin and he was subsequently appointed to the position of Secretary at War in 1708. Despite his personal clout, Walpole could not stop Lord Godolphin and the Whigs from pressing for the prosecution of Henry Sacheverell, a minister who preached anti-Whig sermons.
The trial was unpopular with much of the country, causing the Sacheverell riots, was followed by the downfall of the Duke of Marlborough and the Whig Party in the general election of 1710. The new ministry, under the leadership of the Tory Robert Harley, removed Walpole from his office of Secretary at War but he remained Treasurer of the Navy until 2 January 1711. Harley had first attempted to entice him and threatened him to join the Tories, but Walpole rejected the offers, instead becoming one of the most outspoken members of the Whig Opposition, he defended Lord Godolphin against Tory attacks in parliamentary debate, as well as in the press. In 1712, Walpole was accused of venality and corruption in the matter of two forage contracts for Scotland. Although it was proven that he had retained none of the money, Walpole was pronounced "guilty of a high breach of trust and notorious corruption", he was found guilty by the House of Lords. While in the T
Kingdom of Great Britain
The Kingdom of Great Britain called Great Britain, was a sovereign state in western Europe from 1 May 1707 to 31 December 1800. The state came into being following the Treaty of Union in 1706, ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, which united the kingdoms of England and Scotland to form a single kingdom encompassing the whole island of Great Britain and its outlying islands, with the exception of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands; the unitary state was governed by a single parliament and government, based in Westminster. The former kingdoms had been in personal union since James VI of Scotland became King of England and King of Ireland in 1603 following the death of Elizabeth I, bringing about the "Union of the Crowns". After the accession of George I to the throne of Great Britain in 1714, the kingdom was in a personal union with the Electorate of Hanover; the early years of the unified kingdom were marked by Jacobite risings which ended in defeat for the Stuart cause at Culloden in 1746.
In 1763, victory in the Seven Years' War led to the dominance of the British Empire, to become the foremost global power for over a century and grew to become the largest empire in history. The Kingdom of Great Britain was replaced by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on 1 January 1801 with the Acts of Union 1800; the name Britain descends from the Latin name for the island of Great Britain, Britannia or Brittānia, the land of the Britons via the Old French Bretaigne and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne. The term Great Britain was first used in 1474; the use of the word "Great" before "Britain" originates in the French language, which uses Bretagne for both Britain and Brittany. French therefore distinguishes between the two by calling Britain la Grande Bretagne, a distinction, transferred into English; the Treaty of Union and the subsequent Acts of Union state that England and Scotland were to be "United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain", as such "Great Britain" was the official name of the state, as well as being used in titles such as "Parliament of Great Britain".
Both the Acts and the Treaty describe the country as "One Kingdom" and a "United Kingdom", which has led some much publications into the error of treating the "United Kingdom" as a name before it came into being in 1801. The websites of the Scottish Parliament, the BBC, others, including the Historical Association, refer to the state created on 1 May 1707 as the United Kingdom of Great Britain; the term United Kingdom was sometimes used during the 18th century to describe the state, but was not its name. The kingdoms of England and Scotland, both in existence from the 9th century, were separate states until 1707. However, they had come into a personal union in 1603, when James VI of Scotland became king of England under the name of James I; this Union of the Crowns under the House of Stuart meant that the whole of the island of Great Britain was now ruled by a single monarch, who by virtue of holding the English crown ruled over the Kingdom of Ireland. Each of the three kingdoms maintained laws.
Various smaller islands were in the king's domain, including the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. This disposition changed when the Acts of Union 1707 came into force, with a single unified Crown of Great Britain and a single unified parliament. Ireland remained formally separate, with its own parliament, until the Acts of Union 1800; the Union of 1707 provided for a Protestant-only succession to the throne in accordance with the English Act of Settlement of 1701. The Act of Settlement required that the heir to the English throne be a descendant of the Electress Sophia of Hanover and not be a Catholic. Legislative power was vested in the Parliament of Great Britain, which replaced both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. In practice it was a continuation of the English parliament, sitting at the same location in Westminster, expanded to include representation from Scotland; as with the former Parliament of England and the modern Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Parliament of Great Britain was formally constituted of three elements: the House of Commons, the House of Lords, the Crown.
The right of the English peerage to sit in the House of Lords remained unchanged, while the disproportionately large Scottish peerage was permitted to send only 16 representative peers, elected from amongst their number for the life of each parliament. The members of the former English House of Commons continued as members of the British House of Commons, but as a reflection of the relative tax bases of the two countries the number of Scottish representatives was reduced to 45. Newly created peers in the Peerage of Great Britain were given the automatic right to sit in the Lords. Despite the end of a separate parliament for Scotland, it retained its own laws and system of courts, As its own established Presbyterian Church, control over its own schools; the social structure was hierarchical, the same elite remain in control after 1707. Scotland continued to have its own excellent universities, with the strong intellectual community in Edinburgh, The Scottish Enlightenment had a major impact on British and European thinking.
As a result of Poynings' Law of 1495, the Parliament of Ireland was subordinate to the Parliament of England, after 1707 to the Parliament of Great Britain. The Westminster parliament's Declaratory Act 1719 (also called the Dependency of Ireland
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies known as the Thirteen British Colonies or the Thirteen American Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America founded in the 17th and 18th centuries. They formed the United States of America; the Thirteen Colonies had similar political and legal systems and were dominated by Protestant English-speakers. They were part of Britain's possessions in the New World, which included colonies in Canada, the Caribbean, the Floridas. Between 1625 and 1775, the colonial population grew from 2,000 to over 2.5 million, displacing American Indians. This population included people subject to a system of slavery, legal in all of the colonies prior to the American Revolutionary War. In the 18th century, the British government operated its colonies under a policy of mercantilism, in which the central government administered its possessions for the economic benefit of the mother country; the Thirteen Colonies had a high degree of self-governance and active local elections, they resisted London's demands for more control.
The French and Indian War against France and its Indian allies led to growing tensions between Britain and the Thirteen Colonies. In the 1750s, the colonies began collaborating with one another instead of dealing directly with Britain; these inter-colonial activities cultivated a sense of shared American identity and led to calls for protection of the colonists' "Rights as Englishmen" the principle of "no taxation without representation". Grievances with the British government led to the American Revolution, in which the colonies collaborated in forming the Continental Congress; the colonists fought the American Revolutionary War with the aid of France and, to a smaller degree, the Dutch Republic and Spain. In 1606, King James I of England granted charters to both the Plymouth Company and the London Company for the purpose of establishing permanent settlements in America; the London Company established the Colony and Dominion of Virginia in 1607, the first permanently settled English colony on the continent.
The Plymouth Company founded the Popham Colony on the Kennebec River. The Plymouth Council for New England sponsored several colonization projects, culminating with Plymouth Colony in 1620, settled by English Puritan separatists, known today as the Pilgrims; the Dutch and French established successful American colonies at the same time as the English, but they came under the English crown. The Thirteen Colonies were complete with the establishment of the Province of Georgia in 1732, although the term "Thirteen Colonies" became current only in the context of the American Revolution. In London beginning in 1660, all colonies were governed through a state department known as the Southern Department, a committee of the Privy Council called the Board of Trade and Plantations. In 1768, a specific state department was created for America, but it was disbanded in 1782 when the Home Office took responsibility. Province of New Hampshire, established in the 1620s, chartered as crown colony in 1679 Province of Massachusetts Bay, established in the 1620s, a crown colony 1692 Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, established 1636, chartered as crown colony in 1663 Connecticut Colony, established 1636, chartered as crown colony in 1662 Province of New York, proprietary colony 1664–1685, crown colony from 1686 Province of New Jersey, proprietary colony from 1664, crown colony from 1702 Province of Pennsylvania, a proprietary colony established 1681 Delaware Colony, a proprietary colony established 1664 Province of Maryland, a proprietary colony established 1632 Colony and Dominion of Virginia, proprietary colony established 1607, a crown colony from 1624 Province of Carolina, a proprietary colony established 1663 Divided into the Province of North-Carolina and Province of South Carolina in 1712, each became a crown colony in 1729 Province of Georgia, proprietary colony established 1732, crown colony from 1752.
The first successful English colony was Jamestown, established May 1607 near Chesapeake Bay. The business venture was financed and coordinated by the London Virginia Company, a joint stock company looking for gold, its first years were difficult, with high death rates from disease and starvation, wars with local Indians, little gold. The colony flourished by turning to tobacco as a cash crop. In 1632, King Charles I granted the charter for Province of Maryland to Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore. Calvert's father had been a prominent Catholic official who encouraged Catholic immigration to the English colonies; the charter offered no guidelines on religion. The Province of Carolina was the second attempted English settlement south of Virginia, the first being the failed attempt at Roanoke, it was a private venture, financed by a group of English Lords Proprietors who obtained a Royal Charter to the Carolinas in 1663, hoping that a new colony in the south would become profitable like Jamestown.
Carolina was not settled until 1670, then the first attempt failed because there was no incentive for emigration to that area. However, the Lords combined their remaining capital and financed a settlement mission to the area led by Sir John Colleton; the expedition located fertile and defensible ground at what became Charleston Charles Town for Charles II of England. The Pilgrims were a small group of Puritan separatists who felt that they needed to physically distance themselves from the corrupt Church of England. After moving to the Netherlands, they decided to re-establish themselves in America; the initi
John Strutt (1727–1816)
John Strutt was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1774 to 1790. Strutt was the only son of Joseph Strutt of Moulsham Mill House and his wife Mary Young, daughter of Robert Young of Little Dunmow and was baptised in November 1727, he was educated at Felsted School from 1740 to 1744. His father was a miller and he was apprenticed to another miller named John Strutt of Maldon, he married Anne Goodday, daughter of Rev. William Goodday, rector of Strelley, Nottinghamshire on 17 July 1756. In 1758, he inherited property at Terling on the death of an uncle, he purchased the manor of Terling from Sir Matthew Fetherstonhaugh and the adjacent estate in 1761 and built Terling Place from 1772. Strutt died on 8 March 1816, he and his wife Anne were parents of a daughter. Strutt was for a long time averse to standing for Parliament though he had effective ascendancy over the Maldon constituency from the 1750s to 1807, which he used to elect his friends, he was returned as Member of Parliament for Maldon at the 1774 general election after a contest.
He was returned again unopposed in 1780 and 1784. In 1790 he gave up his seat, subsequently contested by his son, Joseph Holden. In the House Strutt was a steady Government supporter, he achieved prominence by being on 12 Feb. 1779 the only Member to vote against thanking Admiral Keppel for his services, ‘for which he was much reviled’. On 30 Nov. Bamber Gascoyne wrote to him: "As soon as the election is over you will kiss the King’s hand. Sir John is the word and your patent will be made for baronetage at the general election." But there is no evidence of Strutt having wished for honours
George II of Great Britain
George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death in 1760. George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain: he was born and brought up in northern Germany, his grandmother, Sophia of Hanover, became second in line to the British throne after about 50 Catholics higher in line were excluded by the Act of Settlement 1701 and the Acts of Union 1707, which restricted the succession to Protestants. After the deaths of Sophia and Anne, Queen of Great Britain, in 1714, his father George I, Elector of Hanover, inherited the British throne. In the first years of his father's reign as king, George was associated with opposition politicians, until they rejoined the governing party in 1720; as king from 1727, George exercised little control over British domestic policy, controlled by the Parliament of Great Britain. As elector, he spent twelve summers in Hanover, where he had more direct control over government policy.
He had a difficult relationship with his eldest son, who supported the parliamentary opposition. During the War of the Austrian Succession, George participated at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743, thus became the last British monarch to lead an army in battle. In 1745, supporters of the Catholic claimant to the British throne, James Francis Edward Stuart, led by James's son Charles Edward Stuart and failed to depose George in the last of the Jacobite rebellions. Frederick died unexpectedly in 1751, nine years before his father, so George II was succeeded by his grandson, George III. For two centuries after George II's death, history tended to view him with disdain, concentrating on his mistresses, short temper, boorishness. Since most scholars have reassessed his legacy and conclude that he held and exercised influence in foreign policy and military appointments. George was born in the city of Hanover in Germany, was the son of George Louis, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg, his wife, Sophia Dorothea of Celle.
His sister, Sophia Dorothea, was born. Both of George's parents committed adultery, in 1694 their marriage was dissolved on the pretext that Sophia had abandoned her husband, she was confined to Ahlden House and denied access to her two children, who never saw their mother again. George spoke only French, the language of diplomacy and the court, until the age of four, after which he was taught German by one of his tutors, Johann Hilmar Holstein. In addition to French and German, he was schooled in English and Italian, studied genealogy, military history, battle tactics with particular diligence. George's second cousin once removed, Queen Anne, ascended the thrones of England and Ireland in 1702, she had no surviving children, by the Act of Settlement 1701, the English Parliament designated Anne's closest Protestant blood relations, George's grandmother Sophia and her descendants, as Anne's heirs in England and Ireland. After his grandmother and father, George was third in line to succeed Anne in two of her three realms.
He was naturalized as an English subject in 1705 by the Sophia Naturalization Act, in 1706, he was made a Knight of the Garter and created Duke and Marquess of Cambridge, Earl of Milford Haven, Viscount Northallerton, Baron Tewkesbury in the Peerage of England. England and Scotland united in 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, jointly accepted the succession as laid down by the English Act of Settlement. George's father did not want his son to enter into a loveless arranged marriage as he had, wanted him to have the opportunity of meeting his bride before any formal arrangements were made. Negotiations from 1702 for the hand of Princess Hedvig Sophia of Sweden, Dowager Duchess and regent of Holstein-Gottorp, came to nothing. In June 1705, under the false name of "Monsieur de Busch", George visited the Ansbach court at their summer residence in Triesdorf to investigate incognito a marriage prospect: Caroline of Ansbach, the former ward of his aunt Queen Sophia Charlotte of Prussia; the English envoy to Hanover, Edmund Poley, reported that George was so taken by "the good character he had of her that he would not think of anybody else".
A marriage contract was concluded by the end of July. On 22 August / 2 September 1705O. S./N. S. Caroline arrived in Hanover for her wedding, held the same evening in the chapel at Herrenhausen. George was keen to participate in the war against France in Flanders, but his father refused permission for him to join the army in an active role until he had a son and heir. In early 1707, George's hopes were fulfilled. In July, Caroline fell ill with smallpox, George caught the infection after staying by her side devotedly during her illness, they both recovered. In 1708, George participated in the Battle of Oudenarde in the vanguard of the Hanoverian cavalry; the British commander, wrote that George "distinguished himself charging at the head of and animating by his example troops, who played a good part in this happy victory". Between 1709 and 1713, George and Caroline had three more children, all girls: Anne and Caroline. By 1714, Queen Anne's health had declined, British Whigs, politicians who supported the Hanoverian succession, thought it prudent for one of the Hanoverians to live in England, to safeguard
Kingdom of Great Britain
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