Family and Education

b. 2 May 1696, 1st s. of Thomas Chester by Anne, da. and coh. of Sir Samuel Astry of Henbury, Glos. educ. Oriel, Oxf. 1713. m. (1) 25 Sept. 1721, Lady Sarah Henrietta Howard (d. 1722), da. of Henry, 6th Earl of Suffolk, s.p.; (2) 28 Feb. 1736, Mary, da. and h. of Jeremy Gough of London, wid. of George Guinnet, s.p. suc. fa. 1704.

Offices Held

Biography

Chester sat for Gloucestershire with Beaufort support and was returned unopposed in 1754 and again in 1761. He was classed as ‘Tory’ in Dupplin’s list of 1754 and in Bute’s of December 1761. He does not appear in Henry Fox’s list of Members favourable to the peace preliminaries, December 1762, but did not vote against them. Jenkinson in the autumn of 1763 classed him as ‘doubtful’. Chester is only once reported to have spoken in the House: on 13 Mar. 1763, during the debate on the cider tax, when, according to Harris, ‘Old Chester ... was seen to speak, but not heard, a gentle murmur on all sides filling the House as he spoke.’

He died 1 Oct. 1763.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: Mary M. Drummond

Notes