Family and Education

b. 11 Feb. 1710, 1st surv. s. of Sir William Courtenay, 2nd Bt., M.P. for Devon, by Lady Anne Bertie, da. of James, 1st Earl of Abingdon. educ. Westminster 1722; Magdalen, Oxf. 1729. m. 2 Apr. 1741, Lady Frances Finch, da. of Heneage, 2nd Earl of Aylesford, 1s. 5da. suc. fa. 1735;  cr. Visct. Courtenay 6 May 1762.

Offices Held

Biography

Courtenay was a Tory. He appears in Newcastle’s list of 1761 as ‘against’, but is not classed in Bute’s list of December 1761—he was about to be created a peer.1 He apparently owed his peerage to Bute who therefore could press him, against Courtenay’s own inclination, to give his interest at the ensuing by-election for Devon to John Parker.2

Courtenay died 16 May 1762.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: Sir Lewis Namier

Notes

• 1. Jas. Buller to Bute, 20 Nov. 1761, Bute mss.
• 2. Bute to Shelburne, 28 Apr. 1762, Lansdowne mss.