Family and Education

b. c.1663, 2nd s. of Robert Bertie I, 3rd Earl of Lindsey by 2nd w.; bro. of Hon. Albermarle Bertie, Hon. Philip Bertie and Robert Bertie II. educ. M. Temple 1679. unm.; 2da. illegit by Mrs Allen.1

Offices Held

Alderman, Boston 1685-Feb. 1688; commr. for assessment, Lincs. 1689-90, j.p. and dep. lt. 1690-?d.2

Cornet, indep. tp. June-Dec. 1685

Asst. saltpetre co. 1692; v.-chamberlain 1692-1706; PC 5 May 1695-d.; teller of the Exchequer 1706-d.3

Biography

Bertie was nominated alderman of Boston in the charter of 1685, and elected to James II’s Parliament with his brother Robert in the following month. Both brothers supported the attack of Sir John Lowther III on the rigging of elections. But when new troops were raised on Monmouth’s landing, Charles Bertie wrote: ‘My nephew Peregrine, at my brother Lindsey’s solicitation, pretends to be my brother Abingdon’s lieutenant, though we guess he would rather choose some better-experienced officer’. Bertie had to be satisfied with a mere cornetcy, and he lost that after voting against the Court in the second session over the employment of Roman Catholic officers. He was removed from the corporation of Boston in February 1688 and took part in the Revolution under his uncle Lord Danby (Sir Thomas Osborne), who sent him as a messenger to William of Orange in November. He did not stand in 1689, but sat as a court Tory under William III and as a Whig under Anne. He was struck ‘with a dead palsy’ while playing cards and died on 10 July 1711.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Paula Watson

Notes

• 1. PCC 143 Young.
• 2. CSP Dom. 1685, p. 50; 1690-1, p. 41; PC2/72/618.
• 3. Sel. Charters (Selden Soc. xxviii), 235; Luttrell, ii. 390-1; Cal. Treas. Bks. xiv. 193; xxi. 118, 127, 157.
• 4. Add. 38012, f. 3; Browning, Danby , i. 370; ii. 150; HMC Rutland , ii. 97; Hearne’s Colls. (Oxf. Hist. Soc. vii), 193.