WENMAN, Philip, 4th Visct. Wenman [I] (1742-1800), of Thame Park, Oxon.

Wenman’s father sat for Oxford 1749-54 and was a Tory candidate at the great Oxfordshire election of 1754; and Wenman was returned for the county at five general elections without a contest. The English Chronicle wrote about him in 1781: ‘Of a Tory family, but of an honest, independent, upright conduct in Parliament, and inclined to Opposition.’ He was closely connected in politics with his brother-in-law, Lord Abingdon, and voted consistently against the Grafton and North Administrations. Abingdon wrote to Shelburne, 13 Feb. 1783:Lansdowne mss. ‘My brother Wenman comes up decidedly your friend as all my connexions are’; and Wenman voted for Shelburne’s peace preliminaries. On 23 Feb. Abingdon asked Shelburne if Wenman’s further attendance was required: ‘Lord Wenman is of a gouty disposition, and cannot stand late hours too often’; but ‘his heart lies in the right place, and he is an anti-Fox’. He supported Pitt’s Administration. There is no record of his having spoken in the House.

He died 26 Mar. 1800.