PULTENEY, Harry (1686-1767).

Pulteney, an army officer, who had been taken prisoner at Almanza, was returned for Hedon in 1722 by his famous brother, William, with whom he shared the representation of the borough unopposed till 1734, though from 1725 William was leading the Whig Opposition while his brother voted consistently with the Government. In 1732 William, who for some time had refused to see Harry ‘because he votes with the Court’,

sent him word that if ever he expected anything of him, or to change a word with him, he must vote against the Court. But the Colonel, for whom he never did anything, expecting nothing from him, though he should oblige him in it, could not hazard his employment by complying.1HMC Egmont Diary, i. 246.

He was not put up by his brother in 1734, but on a vacancy in 1739 he was again returned, unopposed for Hedon. In 1741 William, faced with an opposition by Luke Robinson at Hedon, threatened not to put up Harry again unless Robinson withdrew his candidature. From friendship for Harry, Walpole pressed Robinson to withdraw, pointing out that he would only turn out Colonel Pulteney and refusing to name a candidate to join with Robinson against William.2Luke Robinson to Walpole, 3 and 16 Feb. 1741, Cholmondeley (Houghton) mss. Robinson however was obdurate, with the result that Harry was out of Parliament till 1744, when he was brought in for Hull, of which he had been appointed governor. Sent to Flanders in March that year to make arrangements for the return of the British force there in the event of a French invasion,3HMC Egmont Diary, iii. 290. he voted for the Hanoverians in 1746. He did not stand again.

In 1764 Pulteney succeeded to the vast fortune of his brother, who had no one else to leave it to.4Chesterfield Letters, 2603. He died unmarried 26 Oct. 1767, leaving that fortune to the daughter of his first cousin, Daniel Pulteney, the wife of William Johnstone, afterwards Sir William Pulteney, Bt.