Sir Anthony Abdy, 5th Baronet

Sir Anthony Thomas Abdy, 5th Baronet, KC (c. 1720 – 7 April 1775)^[1] was a British barrister and Whig politician.

Background and education

He was the eldest son of Sir William Abdy, 4th Baronet and his wife Mary Stotherd, daughter of Philip Stotherd.^[2] Abdy was educated at Felsted School and went then to St John's College, Cambridge.^[3] In 1750, he succeeded his father as baronet^[4] and in 1759, he also inherited the estates of Sir John Abdy, 4th Baronet, the great-grandchild of the brother of his great-grandfather.^[5]

Career

Abdy was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1738 and was called to the Bar after six years.^[6] He managed the estates of Sackville Tufton, 7th Earl of Thanet and was adviser to Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington.^[6] In 1758, he became a bencher and in 1765 he was appointed a King's Counsel.^[6] Along with the Countess of Burlington, Abdy was one of the witnesses to the marriage in June 1749 at the Portuguese Embassy Chapel in S. Audley St. London, of David Garrick and Eva Maria Veigel.

When in 1763 Sir Henry Slingsby, 5th Baronet died, Abdy with the support of William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, Burlington's son-in-law,^[6] stood as Member of Parliament (MP) for Knaresborough, a seat he held until his death in 1775.^[7]

Family and death

On 13 August 1747, he married Catherine Hamilton, youngest daughter of William Hamilton in St Paul's Cathedral in London.^[8] Their marriage was childless and Abdy was succeeded in the baronetcy by his younger brother William.^[9] Having had suffered from the gout in his last years, he died on it in 1775.^[6]

References

1. "Leigh Rayment - Baronetage". Retrieved 6 April 2009.
2. Kimber, Edward (1771). Richard Johnson, ed. The Baronetage of England: Containing a Genealogical and Historical Account of All the English Baronets. vol. I. London: Thomas Wotton. p. 373.
3. "Abdy, Anthony Thomas (ABDY738AT)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
4. Debrett, John (1824). Debrett's Baronetage of England. vol. I (5th ed.). London: G. Woodfall. p. 138.
5. Burke, John (1841). John Bernhard Burke, ed. A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland and Scotland (2nd ed.). London: Scott, Webster, and Geary. pp. 1–2.
6. Sir Lewis Namier, John Brooke, ed. (2002). The House of Commons, 1754-1790. vol. II. London: Secker & Warburg. p. 1.
7. "Leigh Rayment - British House of Commons, Knaresborough". Retrieved 6 April 2009.
8. "ThePeerage - Sir Anthony Thomas Abdy, 5th Bt". Retrieved 14 March 2007.
9. Burke, John (1832). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. vol. I (4th ed.). London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley. p. 1.