HATTON, William Seton (c. 1690-1760)

Hatton succeeded to the peerage and to considerable property in London and Northamptonshire while still a minor. By his father’s will, Hatton’s education was entrusted to his mother, to whom management of the family estates was also entrusted along with the co-executors, Sir Charles Lyttelton^‡, William Longueville and Daniel Finch, 2nd earl of Nottingham, husband of Hatton’s half-sister, Anne. Through his other half-sisters by his father’s first and second marriages Hatton was related to the families of the earls of Thanet and Viscounts Longueville (later earls of Sussex). The 1st Viscount had also been a close friend of John Fell, bishop of Oxford, and this connection was perhaps reflected in the choice of Christ Church for the young lord’s college at university. Add. 29583 passim. Hatton graduated as a master of arts in 1708 and the same year, though still underage, he was included in a list of Tory peers.

Still a minor at the time of the trial of Henry Sacheverell in March 1710, Hatton finally took his seat in the House on the prorogation day of 27 Nov. 1711. In advance of the new session Hatton was noted by Robert Harley, earl of Oxford, as a potential supporter of the ministry and on 2 Dec. as a peer to be contacted over the issue of ‘No Peace without Spain’. Hatton took his seat on the opening day of the new session (7 Dec.) after which he was present on almost three-quarters of all sitting days. The following day he was one of 20 peers to subscribe the protest at the resolution to present the amended address of thanks to the queen, thereby placing himself at odds with his kinsman, Nottingham, who had proposed the addition of the clause representing that there could be no peace while Spain was left to the house of Bourbon. Timberland, ii. 350-1. Hatton was forecast as a possible opponent of permitting James Hamilton, 4th duke of Hamilton [S], to take his seat in the House as duke of Brandon on 19 Dec., and the following day he voted to bar Scots peers at the time of Union from sitting by right of post-Union British peerages. On 28 May 1712 he divided with the ministry in rejecting the proposal to address the queen to overturn the orders restraining James Butler, 2nd duke of Ormond, from mounting an offensive campaign. PH, xxvi. 177-81.

Hatton attended six of the prorogation days between July 1712 and March 1713. In October 1712 he sent a pamphlet by Swift to his half-sister, Lady Nottingham, who reckoned the author to be ‘a very ingenious pamphleteer but I think would be a scurvy dean.’ Add. 29596, f. 216. Whatever Lady Nottingham’s reservations, Swift assessed Hatton as a likely supporter of the ministry in advance of the new session. Hatton took his seat in the House on 9 Apr. 1713. Present on just over 55 per cent of all sitting days, on 13 June he was included in a list of office holders likely to desert the ministry over the French commerce bill and the same day he was listed by Oxford as being doubtful over the measure.

Despite his less than impressive record in supporting the ministry, Hatton remained in close contact with Oxford following the prorogation, who assured him, ‘that you cannot anyway oblige me so much as by letting me know how I can be of any service to you for there is no one has a greater esteem for you than I have.’ Add. 29549, f. 125. Hatton took his seat at the opening of the first session of the new Parliament (16 Feb. 1714), but his attendance declined markedly compared to his previous record and he was present on just 16 per cent of all sitting days. Absent from the session after 8 Apr., on 14 Apr. he registered his proxy with Thomas Thynne, Viscount Weymouth. In May Hatton was forecast by his kinsman Nottingham as a supporter of the schism bill but he failed to attend and so was unable to back the measure in person.

Hatton was absent for the entirety of the brief session that met in the aftermath of the queen’s death. In September Sir Justinian Isham^‡ sought his interest for the forthcoming election in Northamptonshire, but Hatton seems to have withdrawn from political activity and he failed to return to the House until July 1718. Northants. RO, IC 1803. The reason for his prolonged absence is unknown. Opposition to the new regime seems most unlikely as he was closely associated with the ‘Hanoverian Tories’ and after his return to Parliament he proceeded to attend regularly until December 1747. Jones, Party and Management, 128, 146. Details of the latter part of his career will be considered in the next phase of this work.

Hatton died at his London residence in Great Queen Street on 8 Sept. 1760. In his will he constituted his kinsman, Daniel Finch* [1645], 3rd earl of Nottingham and 8th earl of Winchilsea, and his brother, Henry Charles Hatton* [1841], to whom the peerage descended, as executors. At the death of the 3rd Viscount two years later the peerage became extinct.