Peregrine Bertie (of Weston-on-the-Green)

Captain Peregrine Francis Bertie (13 March 1741 – 20 August 1790) was a British naval officer and politician.

The third son of Willoughby Bertie, 3rd Earl of Abingdon, he was educated at Westminster School.^[1] Commissioned a lieutenant in the Royal Navy on 17 December 1759, he was promoted commander on 1 January 1762 and given command of the sloop HMS Despatch. He was made a post-captain on 6 November 1762 and commanded the fifth-rate Repulse until February 1763. He got another command, the frigate HMS Shannon, that August, which he took to Africa and then the Leeward Islands before giving up command in 1764.^[2] In 1765, he inherited the estate of Weston-on-the-Green, Oxfordshire from his great-uncle, Norreys Bertie.^[1]

Bertie entered Parliament as MP for Oxford in 1774 on the interest of his brother, the 4th Earl of Abingdon. A Tory like the rest of the family, he was noted in 1780 as an opposition member who rarely attended Parliament. Lord Abingdon was a supporter of the Shelburne Ministry, and made sure that Bertie was on hand to vote in support of the peace preliminaries to end the American Revolutionary War in February 1783.^[3] Bertie also went to sea again for the first time in almost twenty years: he briefly commanded HMS Fortitude in early 1783, and HMS Carnatic from April 1786 to 1788.^[2] His one recorded speech was in opposition to the government, in favor of John Pollexfen Bastard's motion in 1788 on naval promotions.^[3]

Despite voting against the First Pitt the Younger ministry over the Regency Bill in 1789, the Pittite Abingdon again returned Peregrine for Westbury in the 1790 election on 16 June 1790. He had just married (on 7 May) Elizabeth Hutchins, but they had no children, as he died on 20 August, before Parliament opened. He left his estates to his brother, Lord Abingdon, and made provision for one illegitimate daughter by his housekeeper.^[1]

References

1. Thorne, R.G. (1986). "BERTIE, Hon. Peregrine Francis (1741-90), of Weston-on-the-Green, Oxon. and Frilsham, Berks.". In Thorne, R. G. The House of Commons 1790-1820. The History of Parliament Trust.
2. "Peregrine Bertie". Threedecks.org. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
3. Brooke, John (1964). "BERTIE, Hon. Peregrine (1741-90), of Weston-on-the-Green, Oxon.". In Namier, Sir Lewis; Brooke, John. The House of Commons 1754-1790. The History of Parliament Trust.