English lawyer and politician (1716?1789)
Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley
,
PC
(23 June 1716 ? 1 January 1789) was an
English
lawyer and
politician
who sat in the
House of Commons
from 1756 to 1782 when he was raised to the
peerage
as
Baron Grantley
.
Life and career
[
edit
]
Grantley Hall, North Yorkshire
Norton was the eldest son of Thomas Norton of
Grantley, Yorkshire
. He was educated at
St John's College, Cambridge
and the Middle Temple, being
called to the bar
in 1739.
[1]
After a period of inactivity, he built up a profitable practice, becoming a
King's Counsel
in 1754, and later attorney-general for the county palatine of Lancaster.
With his father he ordered the building in the mid-1700s of
Grantley Hall
, near Ripon in North Yorkshire.
In 1756, Norton was elected
Member of Parliament
for
Appleby
; he represented
Wigan
from 1761 to 1768, and was appointed solicitor-general for England and
knighted
in 1762. He took part in the proceedings against
John Wilkes
, and, having become
Attorney General for England and Wales
in 1763, prosecuted
William Byron, 5th Baron Byron
, for the murder of
William Chaworth
. However, he lost his office when
the Marquess of Rockingham
came to power in July 1765.
[3]
In 1769, as MP for
Guildford
, Norton became a privy councillor and chief
Justice in Eyre
of the forests south of the Trent, and in 1770 was elected
Speaker of the House of Commons
. In 1777, when presenting the bill for the increase of the civil list to the king, he told
George III
that "parliament has not only granted to your majesty a large present supply, but also a very great additional revenue; great beyond example; great beyond your majesty's highest expense." This speech aroused general attention and caused some irritation; but the Speaker was supported by
Charles James Fox
and by the city of London, and received the thanks of the House of Commons.
[3]
The king did not forget these plain words, and after the general election of 1780, the prime minister,
Lord North
, and his followers declined to support the re-election of the retiring Speaker, alleging that his health was not equal to the duties of the office, and he was defeated when the voting took place.
[3]
In 1782 he was made a peer as
Baron Grantley
of
Markenfield
in the
County of York
.
[4]
He was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society
in 1776.
[5]
Death
[
edit
]
He died in 1789 at his London home in Lincoln's Inn Fields and was buried at Wonersh, Surrey. In 1741 he had married Grace, the daughter and heiress of Sir William Chapple, Justice of the King's Bench, 1737?1745. They had 5 sons and 2 daughters. He was succeeded as Baron Grantley by his eldest son William (1742?1822).
Nathaniel William Wraxall
described Norton as a bold, able and eloquent, but not a popular pleader, and as Speaker he was aggressive and indiscreet. Derided by satirists as "Sir Bullface Doublefee," and described by
Horace Walpole
as one who rose from obscure infamy to that infamous fame which will long stick to him, his character was also assailed by "
Junius
".
Family
[
edit
]
Grantley married Grace Chapple, daughter and heir of
Sir William Chapple
, Justice of the King's bench, on 21 May 1741. They had four sons and a daughter:
Arms
[
edit
]
Coat of arms of Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley
|
- Crest
- A Moor's Head affrontee couped at the shoulders wreathed round the temples with Laurel proper and around the neck a Torse Argent and Azure
- Escutcheon
- Azure a Maunch Ermine surmounted by a Bend Gules
- Supporters
- Dexter: a Lion; Sinister: a Griffin, both Argent and ducally gorged Or and pendent from the coronets by a Ribbon Gules a Shield of the Arms of Norton
- Motto
- Avi Numerantur Avorum (I follow a long line of ancestry)
[6]
|
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- Horace Walpole,
Memoirs of the Reign of George III.
, edited by G. F. R. Barker (1894);
- Sir N. W. Wraxall,
Historical and Posthumous Memoirs
, edited by H. B. Wheatley (1884);
- J. A. Manning,
Lives of the Speakers
(1850);
- Hammond Innes,
The Last Voyage: Captain Cook's Lost Diary
, (N.Y.: Knopf, 1978).
Attribution:
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International
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National
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Other
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