SAUNDERS, Charles (c.1713-75), of Hambledon, nr. Fareham, Hants.

Saunders entered politics under the patronage of Lord Anson, with whom he had sailed round the world. In 1747 he was put up for Hedon by Anson but was defeated.Anson to Bedford, 21 June 1747, Bedford mss; T. Keppel, Life of Keppel, 105; Salmon, 61. Returned in 1750 for Plymouth on the Admiralty interest, he is described by Horace Walpole as declaring his intention of voting against the clandestine marriages bill in 1753 ‘for the sake of the sailors, having once given 40 of his crew leave to go on shore for an hour, and all returned married’, but as being ‘compelled by Lord Anson, the chancellor’s son-in-law and his patron, to vote for it’.H. Walpole, Mems. Geo. II, i. 345. At the following election he was returned by Anson for Hedon, which he represented until his death, 7 Dec. 1775.