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| Marquess of Wharton | |
|---|---|
| Title | Marquess of Wharton |
| Creation date | 1715 |
| Monarch | George I of Great Britain |
| Peerage | Peerage of Great Britain |
| First holder | Philip Wharton, 1st Duke of Wharton |
| Last holder | Philip Wharton, 1st Duke of Wharton |
| Extinction date | 1731 (dukedom); marquessate forfeited 1729 |
| Family seat | Ashton Hall, Lancashire |
| Motto | "Deo et rege" |
Marquess of Wharton was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain created in the early 18th century for a leading Whig nobleman whose career intersected with figures such as Robert Walpole, Addison, Bolingbroke, Charles II, and George I of Great Britain. The creation formed part of a complex web of honors connected to the Duke of Wharton dukedom and reflected political conflicts involving Jacobitism, the Hanoverian succession, and parliamentary contests in constituencies like Yorkshire and Westmorland. The title became notorious through the life of its holder, whose alliances linked him to salons and courts across London, Paris, and the Holy Roman Empire.
The marquessate was created in 1715 during the reign of George I of Great Britain, contemporaneous with creations such as the marquessates granted amid the aftermath of the Jacobite rising of 1715. The title derived from the ancient Wharton barony and the Wharton family’s influence in Westmorland and Lancashire. As with other early-18th-century peerages, its fortunes were tied to the factional struggles between Whig Junto leaders including Charles Montagu, 1st Duke of Manchester and rivals like Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford. The holder’s career included patronage relationships with figures such as John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and cultural contacts with Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift.
The primary holder associated with the marquessate was Philip Wharton, 1st Duke of Wharton, who held multiple peerages including earldoms and baronies in the Peerage of England and later a dukedom in the Peerage of Great Britain. His family background connected him to predecessors like Thomas Wharton, 1st Marquess of Wharton (senior line) and parliamentary figures such as Sir Philip Wharton, 3rd Baronet. The Wharton lineage intersected with other aristocratic houses including Stanhope family, Fane family, and Lennox family through marriage alliances and inheritances, while contemporaries such as Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke and Lord Shaftesbury commented on Wharton’s notoriety.
The 1715 creation followed customary patent procedures executed by George I of Great Britain through the College of Arms and Crown instruments of peerage, analogous to patents granted to peers like James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope. The marquessate’s legal status was complicated by later attainder proceedings in the Parliament of Great Britain amid accusations of treason tied to Jacobite activities and Continental intrigues with courts in Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. Debates in the House of Lords invoked precedent from cases concerning forfeiture of titles such as those of William Maxwell, 5th Earl of Nithsdale and procedures outlined by Acts of Union 1707 jurisprudence. The marquessate’s forfeiture and the extinction of higher dignities exemplify early-18th-century applications of attainder.
The Wharton family’s principal seat was Ashton Hall, Lancashire, with other properties in Long Marton, Wharton Hall, and estates near Sedbergh and Kirkby Stephen in Westmorland. Estate management records and correspondences placed the family within networks including Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (Coke of Norfolk) and agricultural reformers in Yorkshire. Holdings were subject to the period’s inheritance practices governed by settlements, entails, and wills involving attorneys and solicitors who also advised peers such as Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset. After forfeiture or disrepute, various estates passed through sale or escheat patterns recorded alongside other aristocratic properties like Harewood House.
The marquessate’s holder was active in parliamentary politics, serving in the House of Commons before elevation and participating in debates alongside Robert Walpole and William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath. His roles included patronage of newspapers and pamphleteers allied with figures such as John Wilkes and collaboration with salon hosts like Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Abroad, his shifting allegiances involved contacts with James Francis Edward Stuart supporters, diplomatic intermediaries connected to Cardinal Fleury-era France, and émigré circles in The Hague. Political impact extended to cultural patronage of musicians and dramatists who contributed to scenes around Drury Lane and patrons like Lord Burlington.
The marquessate’s effective extinction followed legal and political penalties including attainder, with contemporaneous accounts from publications such as diaries of Horace Walpole and reports in periodicals that tracked noble disgraces. The legacy persisted in literary references by Alexander Pope and recollections by antiquarians like William Dugdale and John Nichols, while later historians compared the episode with other forfeitures such as those of James Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater. Contemporary scholarship on early Hanoverian peerage politics examines the marquessate within studies by historians like G. M. Trevelyan and in archival collections held by institutions such as the British Library and National Archives (UK). Category:Extinct marquessates in the Peerage of Great Britain