BERKELEY, Hon. John (c.1697-1773), of Bruton, Som.

A friend and follower of Lord Carteret’s, Berkeley was sent to the Czar in 1719 with George I’s offer of mediation between Russia and Sweden.HMC Polwarth, ii. 303. Returned for Stockbridge in 1735 as an opposition Whig, he spoke against the Government on the army 18 Feb. 1737, voting against the Spanish convention in 1739, and the place bill in 1740. Though he did not stand in 1741, Carteret rewarded him with the captaincy of the yeomen of the guard in 1743, which he lost after his patron’s abortive attempt to form an Administration in 1746.HMC Egmont Diary, ii. 350; iii. 192, 315. In 1753 he unsuccessfully applied to George II for the office of ranger of the parks, writing:

Your Majesty’s gracious reception of me when I resigned the staff some years ago and which made me ample amends for the loss of it, encourages me to this humble application ... being with the truest sense of my personal obligations to your Majesty and with the warmest zeal for your Majesty’s service.Add. 32732, f. 203.

He died 18 Apr 1773.