Family and Education

b. 14 Jan. 1638, 2nd s. of Sir Henry Slingsby, 1st Bt.^†, of Scriven, Yorks. by Barbara, da. of Thomas Belasyse^†, 1st Visct. Fauconberg of Henknowle; bro. of Sir Thomas Slingsby, 2nd Bt.. unm.; 1s.1

Offices Held

Cornet, Duke of York’s Horse Gds. July 1660-1, R. Horse Gds. (The Blues) 1661, lt. 1671, capt. 1674, maj. 1676-82; lt.-gov. Portsmouth 1682-9; col. of horse Oct. 1688-9.2

Gent. pensioner by 1671-c.1677; groom of the bedchamber to the Duke of York 1682-5, (as King) 1685-Dec. 1688.3

Commr. for inquiry, Richmond Park 1671; freeman, Portsmouth 1675, 1683, alderman 1684-Oct. 1688; j.p. Hants 1683-9; commr. for wastes and spoils, Forest of Bere 1687, assessment, Hants 1689-90.4

Biography

Slingsby has to be distinguished from his cousin, Henry Slingsby of Kippax, master of the Mint. His portion was only £80 per annum, and at the Restoration he adopted a military career. On his return from secondment to the French army in 1671, he rejoined his company at Portsmouth, and through the good offices of the lieutenant-governor, George Legge, obtained a post in the Duke of York’s household. He succeeded Oliver Nicholas as lieutenant-governor in 1682, and was returned for the borough in 1685, but he left no trace on the records of James II’s Parliament. When the King visited Portsmouth in September, Slingsby gave the royal party a magnificent banquet. His various appointments at this time were said to bring him in £1,000 per annum. He replied in the affirmative to the questions on the repeal of the Test Act and Penal Laws. In October 1688 he was given a newly raised cavalry regiment, which was disbanded after the Revolution. He was re-elected in 1689, and, according to the Ailesbury list, voted to agree with the Lords that the throne was not vacant. His only committee in the Convention was for reversing Walcot’s attainder. After his defeat in the 1690 election, he seems to have become a Jacobite conspirator. He was arrested in 1692, and before he left for France in the following year he wrote to his sister, the wife of (Sir) John Talbot, to express his penitence for having formerly taken the oaths to the new regime. He was given permission to return to England in June 1701, but died abroad in the same year.5

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Paula Watson

Notes

• 1. Slingsby Diary ed. Parsons, 18; Clay, Dugdale’s Vis. Yorks. ii. 69; PCC 160 Dyer.
• 2. Parl. Intell. 23 July 1660; CSP Dom. 1671, p. 532; 1682, p. 522.
• 3. Cal. Treas. Bks. iii. 854; viii. 222.
• 4. Ibid. iii. 1161; R. East, Portsmouth Recs. 361, 366; Cal. Treas. Bks. viii. 1632.
• 5. Clay, ii. 67; R. Morrice, Entering Bk. 2, p. 62; CSP Dom. 1671, p. 532; 1691-2, pp. 319, 543; 1700-2, pp. 359, 481; HMC Dartmouth, i. 99; Evelyn Diary, iv. 473; Luttrell, ii. 467; Bodl. Rawl. mss D680, f. 160; PCC 160 Dyer.