From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
British Member of Parliament
Charles Brett
(c. 1715 ? 10 February 1799) was a Royal Navy officer and politician who sat in the
House of Commons
between 1768 and 1790.
Early life
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Brett was probably the son of Captain Timothy Brett, RN. He was at first a naval officer, and in 1755 was in charge of
Portsmouth
dockyard. After inheriting property on his marriage to Elizabeth Hooker, granddaughter and heir of Sir William Hooker in 1753, he retired from the navy and eventually went into politics.
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Political career
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A follower of
Lord Howe
, Brett was Paymaster of the Navy from 1766 to 1770. He entered Parliament in
1768
as
member of parliament
for
Lostwithiel
. He resigned that seat in 1776, to be returned instead as the government-sponsored MP for
Sandwich
, a constituency with a strong naval connection. From 1777 he voted consistently with the opposition, and in
1780
lost his seat when defeated by two government-backed candidates.
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After the fall of
Lord North
's government in 1782, Brett was appointed a
Lord of the Admiralty
, and returned to the Commons as the
Rockingham
government's candidate at
Dartmouth
(another constituency with strong links with the navy) at a by-election on 16 April 1782. He was a Lord of the Admiralty from April 1782 to April 1783, leaving office on the fall of
Shelburne's
administration, and once again under
William Pitt the Younger
from December 1783 until 1788. In
1784
he was returned unopposed as MP for Sandwich again. He did not stand in 1790.
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Later life and legacy
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Brett died on 10 February 1799, "far advanced in years". He and his wife Elizabeth had no children and he left his property to his nephew John, son of his brother John Brett.
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References
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- Robert Beatson,
A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament
(London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807)
[1]
- Lewis Namier & John Brooke,
The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790
(London: HMSO, 1964)