NOEL, Baptist (1708-51)

Gainsborough succeeded to the title while still a child. He eventually took his seat in the Lords three years into the reign of George II. His controversial marriage to the daughter of his gamekeeper, while he was still strictly speaking underage, was not owned until several years after the event. His death in March 1751, only six months after benefitting from a financial windfall as a result of the death of the dowager countess of Burlington, was overshadowed by the greater national tragedy occasioned by the loss of Frederick^* [1471], Prince of Wales. Whitehall Evening Post or London Intelligencer, 16-18 Oct. 1750. He left ten children and his wife ‘pretty far advanced’ with the pregnancy of an eleventh. Remembrancer, 6 Apr. 1751. Full details of his career will be considered in the second part of this work.