MASHAM, Samuel (c. 1679-1758)

Despite having a family pedigree ‘of the superior order’, a position in the royal household and a career in the military, Samuel Masham has tended to be overshadowed by his politically more active wife, Abigail. Innocuous or not, Masham made the most of the opportunities presented to him. In 1707, whilst employed as groom of the bedchamber to George, Prince of Denmark, Masham married Abigail secretly in the presence of the queen (and to the fury of Abigail’s cousin and patron, Sarah Churchill, duchess of Marlborough). The marriage, which had probably been encouraged by Abigail’s kinsman, Robert Harley, not only secured Masham improved finances by virtue of a dowry of 2,000 guineas granted to his wife by the queen, but led to a decisive change of political outlook. Like his wife Masham had owed some of his early career advancement to the Marlboroughs (through acquaintance with the Fortrey family); his own family, which was related to Oliver Cromwell^‡, had been associated with the Whig policies of the Junto (and had provided a home for John Locke in his later years). Masham’s father exercised significant interest in Essex on behalf of the Whigs. Despite this, Masham now embraced fully his wife’s Tory politics. Military and political advancement thereafter were the product of Abigail’s relationship with the queen and the influence of Harley. It also brought him the enmity of the duchess of Marlborough who dismissed Masham as a ‘soft, insignificant man’. F. Harris, Passion for Gov., 132-3; HLQ lxvi. 275-305; HP Commons 1690-1715, iv. 768.

In advance of his marriage Masham had been granted the colonelcy of the regiment commanded by Thomas Windsor, Viscount Windsor [I], (later Baron Mountjoy). Reports of further preferment for the couple soon followed. In the late spring of 1708 it was even rumoured (but quickly contradicted) that Masham was to be advanced to the peerage and was to take the recently vacated title of Dover. Beinecke Lib. OSB mss fc 37, vol. 14, no. xvii. J. Edwin to Manchester, 18 May 1708. That October the couple’s high standing with the queen was made apparent when she stood godmother to their daughter (Prince George of Denmark, stood godfather). HMC Portland, iv. 506. By September 1709 Masham’s wife had, to the ‘greatest mortification imaginable’ of John Churchill, duke of Marlborough, replaced his duchess as the queen’s favourite. Further, Masham was encouraged by Abigail to ‘talk very impertinently’ of the duke’s military career and the war. Add. 61101, ff. 157-8, 165-6. Following the Sacheverell impeachment in spring 1710, the dismissal of the ministry of Sidney Godolphin, earl of Godolphin, and the resignation of the duchess of Marlborough from her places at court ensured the continuation of Masham’s career advancement. Add. 61118, ff. 47-48. By 18 Apr. 1710, the queen was ‘very ready’ to promote him to the rank of brigadier. This was ‘a step further’ than desired by Marlborough, but the duke deferred to the queen’s wishes. Add. 61133, ff. 196-7, 198, 201-2.

In the general election that autumn, Masham was returned for Ilchester on the interest of John Poulett, Earl Poulett, probably at Harley’s instigation, thereby adding to the ‘astonishing’ number of Harley relations in the Commons. Add. 70252, Poulett to Harley, 20 May 1711. An inactive career in the lower House was marked only by his listing as a ‘worthy patriot’ in the crusade against the previous Whig ministry. HP Commons 1690-1715, iv. 768; Pols. in Age of Anne, 265. In May 1711 (the same month that Harley was elevated to the peerage as earl of Oxford), Masham was appointed royal cofferer. Earlier that year his wife had been appointed keeper of the privy purse in succession to the duchess of Marlborough. Coinciding with Masham’s appointment as cofferer, rumours circulated once more that he was to receive a peerage as well, though some believed that he would be made to wait for the time being. The promotion to cofferer, reports of which had circulated from the close of 1710, was viewed by Marlborough as ‘very nauseous and … shameful’; Arthur Mainwaring^‡ mocked that it was appropriate for someone who had ‘seen no service, nor ever can be an officer’ to quit the army and ‘retreat to some good employment since he may have which he pleases, and rise as fast as he pleases’. Evening Post, 25-27 Jan. 1711; Add. 61461, ff. 95, 120-1, 122-3; HMC Var. vii. 251; Wentworth Pprs. 193, 197.

Masham’s appointment as cofferer required him to relinquish his seat and stand again. Rather than continue at Ilchester he transferred to New Windsor, standing successfully on the Tory interest after the court persuaded the high steward of the borough, George Fitzroy, duke of Northumberland, to withdraw support from his own nominee. Wentworth Pprs. 197-8; HP Commons 1690-1715, ii. 17. The debt to Oxford was clear. ‘Mr. Cofferer’, Abigail wrote to Oxford, ‘is your most humble servant’. Add. 70029, f. 296.

Within a few weeks of the opening of the new session in December 1711, Oxford was forced to seek the queen’s agreement to a mass creation of peers to ensure a majority in the Lords over the passage of the peace negotiations. Jones, Party and Management, 125. His confidence in the queen’s willingness to intervene to save the ministry may have been behind Masham informing Swift on 15 Dec. that ‘he had it from a very good hand, that all would be well’, though it was probably not until well over a week after that that the resolution to seek new peerages was broached. Add. 70332, Oxford memo 10 Dec. 1711; Partisan Pols. Principle and Reform in Parliament and the Constituencies, 1689-1880 ed. C. Jones, P. Salmon and R.W. Davis, 18-19. Masham himself seems not to have been expected to be among the main body of new creations. In an Oxford planning memorandum of 27 Dec., Masham’s name was written in a separate column to the majority, suggesting that he may have been considered a reserve candidate. This was largely because of the queen’s concern that the ennoblement of Masham would necessitate the loss of Mrs. Masham from her relatively humble role as the queen’s dresser. In a subsequent memorandum, Oxford noted that the queen had dismissed the idea of Masham being ennobled, insisting that Mrs. Masham did not want the honour. Oxford pressed on, no doubt convinced that Abigail Masham would greet the offer more warmly than the queen supposed, but Anne only capitulated following a final approach by William Legge, 2nd Baron (later earl of) Dartmouth. She did so, on condition that Abigail retained her position and in spite of her concerns that it might cause offence to other peeresses to know that one of their number occupied a relatively menial position. Masham’s eventual inclusion was probably the result of Sir Michael Warton^‡ declining Oxford’s offer of a peerage. Swift maintained on the 29th that it was still ‘a mighty secret that Masham is to be one of the new lords; they say he does not know it himself; but the queen is to surprise him with it’. The creation was finally gazetted on 31 December. Masham was one of four members of the Tory Saturday dining club (the other three being George Hay, Baron Hay, George Granville, Baron Lansdown, and Allen Bathurst, Baron (later Earl) Bathurst) to be elevated on 1 Jan. 1712. Add. 70332, Oxford memo, 27 Dec. 1711; HP Commons 1690-1715, iv. 768; HMC Bath, i. 255; Pols. in Age of Anne, 215; Holmes, ‘Great Ministry’, 174; Luttrell, Brief Relation, vi. 709; Partisan Pols. Principle and Reform, 19, 25, 3304. Interestingly, given his late inclusion, Masham was awarded precedence over both Bathurst and Thomas Foley, Baron Foley: his patent bearing the time 2pm, with Foley’s 3pm and Bathurst the last of the day at 4pm. Sainty, Peerage Creations, 27. Almost certainly as a response to mutterings about the merits of his peerage as the husband of a royal favourite (and contemporary spite about his social and economic fitness to enter the nobility), a justification of his elevation was published to the effect that ‘this accomplish’d gentleman’ had thoroughly recommended himself to the queen. A similar publication subsequently justified the elevation of Henry St John as Viscount Bolingbroke. Partisan Pols. Principle and Reform, 29-31; Reasons which induced her majesty to create Samuel Massam esq; a peer of Great-Britain (1712); Reasons which induced her majesty to create Henry St John …a peer of Great Britain, (1712).

On 2 Jan. 1712, Masham was introduced to the House by John West, 6th Baron de la Warr, and William Byron, 4th Baron Byron. The government duly carried an adjournment division with the support of the new Tory peers. Nicolson London Diaries, 576. In the House Masham acted alongside Poulett and Dartmouth as one of Oxford’s most dependable ‘whips’. HMC Dartmouth, i. 309-10; Pols. in Age of Anne, 308. Masham attended nearly 67 per cent of sittings in his first session in the Lords. He immediately became involved in the business of the House and within weeks of his introduction, had acted as teller for the ministry in three divisions: on 11 Feb. for the division on whether to postpone the second reading of the episcopal communion (Scotland) bill, on 26 Feb. in the division on whether to agree with the Commons’ pro-episcopalian amendment of the bill and on 29 Feb. in the division of whether to appoint a day for a committee of the whole to sit on the officers in the House of Commons bill (place bill).

On 25 Feb. Masham received the proxy of one of his fellow new peers, Thomas Mansell, Baron Mansell (vacated on 3 Mar.); on 26 Feb. he received Hay’s proxy (vacated with Hay’s return on 7 Mar.) and on 25 Mar. he registered his own proxy in Hay’s favour (vacated with his return on 1 April). On 7 Apr. he also received the proxy of Richard Savage, 4th Earl Rivers which was vacated on Rivers’ death. On 6 May Masham acted as teller for the ministry in the division on the wording of the report in the county elections bill, and on 13 June he again told in the division on the Tory motion: whether to expunge reasons for the Whig protest of 28 May. He also supported the ministry in the division on the restraining orders to James Butler, 2nd duke of Ormond. PH, xxvi. 177-81.

As well as playing an active involvement in the life of the House, Masham also seems to have been intent on employing his interest. In March he was said to have echoed Poulett in advocating an ecclesiastical promotion for Henry Moore, who had recently married Sir George Rooke’s^‡ widow, though Moore seems to have been overlooked. Add. 72495, ff. 128-9. Masham attended the House on 21 June 1712 when Parliament was adjourned. Five days later, he received the proxy of the Tory Nathaniel Crew, 3rd Baron Crew and bishop of Durham. It was vacated at the end of the session. He attended for six prorogation days over the winter of 1712 and on 3 Mar. 1713 introduced to the House (together with Baron Hay), Peregrine Hyde Osborne, the future 3rd duke of Leeds, as Baron Osborne. Unsurprisingly, on both 1 June 1712 and 15 May 1713 Masham was listed as a supporter of the court. Although Masham exercised patronage over posts at the excise commission, he also served an important function as an intermediary between his wife and Oxford. On 26 Nov. 1712, for example, Masham relayed to Oxford a request from the countess of Strafford that had come via Abigail. Add. 70319, R., B. and L. Backwell to Oxford, [1713]; Add. 70029, ff. 284-5; Add. 70290, Masham to Oxford, 26, 27 Nov. 1712.

Masham attended the House for the first day of the April 1713 session, after which he was present on 70 per cent of sittings. During the session he played a significant role in assisting Oxford in his management of both Houses of Parliament. On 9 May Oxford’s brother, Edward Harley^‡, warned Oxford that unless Masham spoke to Charles Aldworth^‡ (his successor in New Windsor), Aldworth would vote for the tack of the provisions of the place bill onto the malt bill. Add. 70236, E. Harley to Oxford, bef. 15 May 1713. On 3 June Masham wrote to Henry Grey, duke of Kent, requesting his presence in the House for the second reading of the malt bill, there being ‘a great deal of pains … to throw it out, which if it should, would be of prejudice very much at this time to her Majesty’s affairs’. Beds. Archives, L30/8/47/2. Masham was present on 8 June for the contentious debate and third reading. Later that month, he was predicted by Oxford as a supporter of the bill to confirm the 8th and 9th articles of the French commercial treaty.

Masham seems not to have been directly involved in the elections following the August dissolution. Both he and his wife were, however, preoccupied over the autumn months of 1713 with his son’s illness. Add. 70248, Masham to Oxford, 2 Sept. 1713. In early December, in reply to an enquiry made by Oxford, Lady Masham informed the lord treasurer that her husband was out of town visiting William Stawell, 3rd Baron Stawell. HMC Portland, v. 369. Towards the close of the year the couple were back in attendance on the queen at Windsor, where Masham resumed his role as intermediary between his wife and Oxford. He was also engaged in attempting to secure the passing of a patent for ‘the reversion of some place’, which was reckoned to be worth £1,000 a year. Add. 70248, Masham to Oxford, 25 Dec. 1713; Add. 61463, ff. 108-9.

Masham returned to the House one week after the start of parliamentary business in February 1714. His delayed return to the House may have been connected with the birth of another son around that time. Add. 72541, ff. 108-9. He attended nearly 60 per cent of sittings. On 2 Mar. he registered his proxy in favour of Henry St John, Viscount Bolingbroke (a fellow member of the Saturday dining club). Bodl. ms Eng. misc. e. 180, f. 85. It was vacated on 15 March. At this time Oxford was still issuing instructions to Lady Masham, but it was widely rumoured that she had abandoned Oxford in favour of Bolingbroke, in part because of Oxford’s opposition to the plan to invade Canada. Add. 70332, Oxford memo. 6 Mar. 1714; HP Commons 1690-1715, ii. 185; Macpherson, Orig. Pprs. ii. 530, 532; Add. 72501, f. 124. The succession was also a cause of division. On 19 Apr. an Oxford memorandum noted public rumours that the queen, Lady Masham and the chief royal servants were opposed to the Protestant succession in the House of Hanover. Add. 70331, Oxford memo. 19 Apr. 1714.

Masham, like his wife, shifted his political alliance towards Bolingbroke and became one of the latter’s ‘principal allies’. He seems to have joined the Tory ‘Board of Brothers’, also apparently known as the ‘Society for rewarding merit’, according to a later comment by Delarivier Manley. Pols. in Age of Anne, 270, 280; HMC Portland, v. 453. On 5 Apr. he acted as a teller in the division as to whether the Protestant succession was in danger. EHR, l, 463. Eight days later, he was present when the Lords considered the queen’s reply to an address on the danger of the Pretender. On 17 Apr. he received Byron’s proxy. The same day, Masham acted as teller for the ministry in a division of a committee of the whole on the place bill. The bill was rejected. On 30 Apr. (presumably anticipating Byron’s imminent return on 1 May) he registered his own proxy in favour of Byron (vacated on 7 May), and on 25 May he was once again entrusted with Byron’s proxy (vacated at the end of the session).

Early in May it was reported that Oxford and Lady Masham had made up ‘and so got the better of Lord Bolingbroke’. Add. 72488, ff. 79-80. The same month Jonathan Swift tried to broker a reconciliation between Oxford and Bolingbroke in Lady Masham’s St James’s lodgings. Swift, Works (1843), i. 506. The meeting was unsuccessful; and when Oxford asked the queen to remove any ministers with Jacobite tendencies, the request was denied. Indicative of the fragility of Oxford and Lady Masham’s reconciliation, Masham continued to support Bolingbroke’s initiatives to outmanoeuvre Oxford. By 21 May it was reported that Lady Masham and Bolingbroke were ‘together again’. Add. 72501, f. 124. On 27 May it was predicted by Daniel Finch, 2nd earl of Nottingham, that Masham would support the schism bill, the brainchild of Bolingbroke and the high-flying clergy. Masham attended the House throughout the passage of the bill. On 7 July he received the proxy of Archibald Primrose, earl of Rosebery [S]; it was vacated at the end of the session. Masham attended the House until the penultimate day of the session in early July 1714. Oxford was forced from office at the end of the month.

In the midst of the jostling for position that characterized the queen’s last days, Masham continued to develop his estates. In the middle of July he bought the estate of Langley from Sir Edward Seymour^‡. The same year he also purchased the manor of Little Laver in Essex for £2,100.Verney ms mic. M636/55, R. Palmer to R. Verney, 17 July 1714; VCH Essex, iv. 98-100. With the death of the queen, both Masham and his wife left court and took up residence at the newly acquired Langley Park. He attended 11 days of the brief session that met in the wake of the queen’s death. Masham’s parliamentary career after 1715 (during which he opposed the attainder of Bolingbroke) will be examined in the next part of this work. Masham outlived his wife by over 20 years and died on 16 Oct. 1758 at his house in Burlington Street. He was succeeded by his second, but only surviving son, also named Samuel* [644], as 2nd Baron Masham.