William Tollemache, Lord Huntingtower (1766–1833)


William Manners Tollemache, Lord Huntingtower, known as Sir William Manners, Bt, between 1793 and 1821, was a British nobleman and Tory politician.

Background

Born William Manners, he was the eldest son of John Manners and Louisa Tollemache, 7th Countess of Dysart. On 12 January 1793, at the age of 26, he was created a Baronet, of Hanby Hall in the County of Lincoln. On his mother's succession to the earldom in 1821, he was styled Lord Huntingtower, and adopted the surname of Talmash or Tollemache.

Political career

Huntingtower was known for his high-handed manipulation of the Parliamentary vote in Ilchester. He owned most of the borough, and represented it from 1803–1804 and 1806–1807. In 1818 his candidates, one of whom was his son, were not elected, and he had the workhouse pulled down. A petition to Parliament stated:
Parliament offered no amelioration. In the severe winter of 1828–1829 he engaged in a large public relief project, hiring 528 workers in the vicinity of his estates in Buckminster.
He served as High Sheriff of Leicestershire in 1809.

Family

On 12 January 1790, he married Catherine Rebecca Gray, by whom he had six sons and six daughters:
Lionel's surviving siblings were granted precedence as the children of an earl on 6 November 1840.
He suffered a stroke at Buckminster Park on 7 March 1833 and died on the 11th.