Monarch George III Preceded by Lord George Germain Nationality British Role British statesman | Succeeded by Office abolished Name Welbore 1st | |
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Born 15 December 1713 ( 1713-12-15 ) Died February 2, 1802, Brook Street, London, United Kingdom | ||
Welbore Ellis, 1st Baron Mendip PC FRS (15 December 1713 – 2 February 1802) was a British statesman. He held a number of political offices, including briefly serving as Secretary for the Colonies in 1782 during the American War of Independence.
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Background
Ellis was the second but only surviving son of the Most Reverend Welbore Ellis, Bishop of Kildare and Bishop of Meath.
Political career
In 1741, he was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Cricklade, then moved to Weymouth and Melcombe Regis (1747–1761), Aylesbury (1761–1768), Petersfield (1768–1774), Weymouth and Melcombe Regis (1774–1790) and Petersfield (1791–1794). In 1762, he succeeded Charles Townshend as Secretary at War, and in 1763, he proposed the appropriation of twenty army regiments to the colonies of America. In Parliament, with many others, he opposed the reception of papers from the American Continental Congress. He became Treasurer of the Navy on 1777, then succeeded to the Colonial Secretaryship in 1782, which he held for a matter of months, before the American colonies were lost. In 1784, he became the longest-serving member of the House of Commons (having served for 34 years noncontinuously), becoming the honorary Father of the House. He was created Baron Mendip, of Mendip in the County of Somerset, in 1794 in recognition of his governmental service. The peerage was created with remainder to the three eldest sons of his sister Anne by her husband Henry Agar, of Gowran.
Personal life
Ellis died childless in February 1802, aged 88, and was succeeded in the barony according to the special remainder by his great-nephew, Henry Welbore Agar, 2nd Viscount Clifden, who assumed the surname of Ellis two years later.