Bathurst

Bathurst, EARL, a title conferred in 1762 on ALLEN BATHURST (1684-1775), a Tory statesman, and the friend of Pope, Swift, Congreve, Prior, and Sterne. He had been raised to the peerage forty years before as Baron Bathurst.—His son HENRY (1714-94), second earl, sat for Cirencester from 1735 to 1754, and from 1771 to 1778 was Lord Chancellor—'one of the weakest, though one of the worthiest,' that ever sat on the woolsack.—His son HENRY (1762-1834), third earl, was Secretary for the Colonies from 1812 to 1828. To the same family belonged Henry Bathurst (1744-1837), from 1805 Bishop of Norwich, the 'only Liberal bishop' of his day; and his son Benjamin (1784-1809), who disappeared mysteriously between Berlin and Hamburg, as he was travelling with despatches from Vienna.