Conyers Darcy

Not to be confused with Conyers Darcy, 7th Baron Darcy de Knayth (1570–1653), Conyers Darcy, 1st Earl of Holderness (1598/1599 – 1689), or Conyers Darcy, 2nd Earl of Holderness (1622–1692).

Sir Conyers Darcy or Darcey, KCB PC (c. 1685 – 1 December 1758), of Aske, near Richmond, Yorkshire, was a British Army officer, courtier and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1707 and 1758.

Early life

Aske Hall, North Yorkshire c.1880

Darcy was the second surviving son of Hon. John Darcy, MP, and his wife Bridget Sutton, daughter of Robert Sutton, 1st Baron Lexington. He was the younger brother of Robert Darcy, 3rd Earl of Holderness. He was probably educated at Eton College in 1698 and matriculated fellow-commoner from King's College, Cambridge in 1703. He joined the army and was cornet and major in the 1st Life Guards from 1706 to 1715.

Career

Darcy was returned as Member of Parliament for Yorkshire at a by-election on 3 December 1707, but was defeated at the 1708 general election. He refused to stand at the 1710 general election. In 1710 he became gentleman of horse and in 1711, avener and clerk martial. From 1712 to 1714, he was one of the commissioners for the office of Master of the Horse. He was also Colonel of the disembodied Richmondshire Regiment, North Riding Militia.

At the 1715 general election, Darcy was returned as Member of Parliament for Newark. He was appointed commissioner for the office of Master of the Horse again in 1715. He went into opposition with Walpole in 1717, and voted against the Government on several occasions, so he lost all his official posts. When the WHigs subsequently came together again, he was appointed Master of the Household in 1720. At the 1722 general election he was returned at Boroughbridge and at Richmond and chose to sit at Richmond. In 1725, he was invested as a Founder Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. In 1727, he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of the North Riding of Yorkshire holding the post until 1740. He was initially defeated at the poll at the 1727 general election, but was seated on petition on 14 March 1728. He was promoted to the post of Comptroller of the Household and was sworn a Privy Counsellor in 1730. He was returned for Richmond again at the general elections of 1734 and 1741. At the 1747 he was returned again for Yorkshire and Richmond and this time chose to sit for Yorkshire. He was re-elected for Yorkshire in the 1754 general election. When the Militia was revived in 1758, his nephew Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness, Lord Lieutenant of the North Riding, re-appointed him to the colonelcy of the Richmondshire Battalion, North York Militia, which he had first held 50 years earlier.

Family and legacy

Darcy married Mary Lady Capell, widow of Algernon Capell, 2nd Earl of Essex and daughter of Hans William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland in August 1714. He bought Aske Hall near Richmond, North Yorkshire in 1722 and extensively remodelled it. His wife died on 20 August 1726 and on 12 September 1728 he married Elizabeth, twice widowed daughter of John Rotherham of Much Waltham, Essex. Her former husbands were Sir Theophilus Napier, 5th Baronet, of Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire, and Thomas Howard, 6th Lord Howard of Effingham). He was a founding governor of the Foundling Hospital in London, a charity set up to care for foundlings (abandoned children).

Darcy died without issue on 1 December 1758. Aske Hall was sold in 1763 by Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness to Sir Lawrence Dundas, 1st Baronet.

References

• "Darcey, Conyers (DRCY703C)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
• Brooke, John (1964), "Darcy, Sir Conyers (?1685–1758), of Aske, nr. Richmond, Yorks.", in Namier, L.; Brooke, J. (eds.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754–1790, Boydell and Brewer