FORTESCUE, William (1687-1749), of Buckland Filleigh, Devon.

Fortescue, a practising barrister, was distantly related to Margaret Rolle, the daughter-in-law of Sir Robert Walpole,Corresp. H. Walpole (Yale ed.), xviii. 236 n. 1. whose private secretary he became. Returned on the government interest at Newport, he voted with the Administration till he vacated his seat on being made a baron of the Exchequer in 1736. He spoke for the Government in February 1730 on the bill to prevent loans to foreign powers except with the King’s permission, and next year on the Hessians.HMC Egmont Diary, i. 60, 126. The friend to whom Pope addressed his imitation of the first satire of the second book of Horace, he died 15 Dec. 1749.