HATTON, George (?1761-1831).

Hatton, described in 1791 as having ‘little or no fortune’, was brought into the Irish House of Commons by his brother-in-law George, 2nd Earl of Grandison. He was listed as being in opposition with his patron then and in 1793,Procs. R. Irish Acad. lix, sec. C, no. 1 (1957), 18, 53. but by 1795 supported government, became a placeman and subsequently supported the Union. He was returned to Westminster by his brother-in-law the Marquess of Hertford. He made no mark in Parliament and, being one of the Irish Members destined to go out as a placeholder, his chief problem was a better place than the one he had held in the stamp office at £500 p.a. This was a union engagement and having declined the board of accounts at £800 p.a., he accepted the tellership of the Exchequer, a sinecure of the same income, only to find that he could not raise the necessary security. Government were embarrassed by his claim, which was eventually settled by making him examiner of excise at £850 p.a.HO 100/103; Sidmouth mss, Abbot to Addington, 5 Jan. 1802; PRO 30/9/1, pt. 3/2, Hatton to Abbot, 1 Dec. 1801; 30/9/13, pt. 2, Irish lists. Hatton ceased to be listed as examiner of the excise in 1827, and, according to a pedigree of the family in the library of the Society of Genealogists, he died in 1831.