GOUNTER NICOLL, Charles (1704-33), of Racton, Suss.

Gounter Nicoll, whose family had been at Racton since the fifteenth century, was the grandson of Col. George Gounter, who assisted the escape of Charles II from England after the battle of Worcester. He took the name of his mother, who became the eventual heir to the Nicoll estates.PCC 8 Browning, 317 Price; VCH Suss. iv. 114-15. On the death of the 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam, the Duke of Newcastle wrote to the new Earl’s guardian, William Jessop, recommending Nicoll, as

a gentleman of a very great estate in Sussex, and who will be, as I am assured, very steady in the interest, and is strongly recommended by the Earl of Scarbrough and Sir Robert Walpole to fill up the late Lord Fitzwilliam’s vacancy in that borough. Sir Robert has, or will write to the Dean for that purpose ... Mr. Banks is the chief person that has put Mr. Nicholl upon standing.T. Lawson-Tancred. Recs. of a Yorks. Manor, 277-8.

Returned unopposed, in spite of having no connexion with Peterborough, he voted with the Government, who gave him a red ribbon in 1732. Soon after his death, 24. Nov. 1733, his widow prosecuted a news-writer for defaming him for accepting this honour, the cost of the prosecution being met from secret service funds.CJ, xxiv, 226. In 1735 she, with £70,000, married Lord Lindsey, later 3rd Duke of Ancaster. His daughter, with £100,000, married the 2nd Earl of Dartmouth in 1755.