BODVELL, William (1694-1759), of Madryn, Caern.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1741 - 1754
1754 - 30 June 1759

Family and Education

b. Nov. 1694, 2nd s. of Lloyd Bodvell of Bodvan, Caern. by Anne, da. and h. of Hugh Davies of Madryn. m., s.p. suc. e. bro. Peter at Madryn 1711, and fa. at Bodvan Dec. 1731.

Offices Held

Constable, Beaumaris castle 1716-25 and 1752-d.; sheriff, Caern. 1718-20.

Biography

Bodvell, the son of a prominent Caernarvonshire Whig, unsuccessfully opposed the Bulkeley interest at Beaumaris in 1722 and 1727. In 1741 he was returned for Caernarvonshire under an arrangement with John Wynn of Glynllivon, originally negotiated by H. A. Herbert, afterwards Lord Powis, acting on behalf of the Administration. One of Powis’s group, he voted with the Government on the election of the chairman of the elections committee in 1741, was absent from the divisions on the Hanoverians in 1742 and 1744, but voted for them in 1746, when he was classed as Old Whig. Re-elected in 1747 as a government supporter, he figures in the 2nd Lord Egmont’s list of ‘the most obnoxious men of an inferior degree’ in the House of Commons. Egmont rated him among the twelve ‘worst cast for us in the whole House’ - ‘as violent and embittered in his heart against us [i.e. the Prince’s party] as any man in the House’ - bracketing him and old Horace Walpole together with the comment: ‘These two beyond all measure’.

He died 30 June 1759.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Peter D.G. Thomas

Notes