WINDSOR, Thomas (c. 1669-1738)

Windsor was said to have been ‘stirring’ for his elevation to the Lords for some time before his eventual promotion. Wentworth Pprs. 203. His father, Plymouth, had held office in the household of James, duke of York, as master of the horse, and it was presumably through his interest that Windsor was appointed a page of honour at about the time of James’s accession to the throne. Sainty and Bucholz, pt. ii. 63. Windsor did not share his father’s unquestioning loyalty to James II. He supported the Revolution, fought at the Boyne and became a successful career soldier under William III and Queen Anne. Although his regiment was disbanded in 1697, two years later he was made an Irish peer as a reward for his military service in Flanders.

In 1703 Windsor was able to add to his younger son’s inheritance thanks to a lucrative marriage to the widow of the 2nd Baron Jeffreys. His new wife, a niece of the duchess of Portsmouth, was suspected of Catholicism, but she brought with her the Welsh lands of her father, Pembroke, comprising some 60 manors in Wales (the most significant of which was the lordship of Cardiff) as well as an interest at Bramber in Sussex inherited from her former husband. NLW, Bute mss, L36/7; S.P. Benham, Bute Estate Records, ii; HP Commons 1690-1715, ii. 602, 808. Windsor was thus able to add these estates to the rather modest interest at Reigate in Surrey, which he had inherited from his father. VCH Surrey, iii. 237. Despite this he was unsuccessful at Bramber in November 1703, when he was warned by one of his agents of ‘a plot contriving’ against him. NLW, Bute mss, L4/13. He was again unsuccessful at the by-election of February of the following year. Windsor was finally returned during the election of May 1705. The same year he employed his interest on behalf of his younger brother, Dixie, for Cambridge University in opposition to Francis Godolphin, then styled Lord Rialton, later 2nd earl of Godolphin, thereby earning the extreme displeasure of the lord treasurer (Sidney Godolphin, Baron (later earl of) Godolphin).

Godolphin had his revenge two years later when Windsor was put out of his command of the 3rd dragoon guards. Robert Harley (later earl of Oxford) and Abigail Masham were believed to have been behind his removal. The instruction informing Windsor of his replacement (as well as that of his brother Dixie) penned by Charles Spencer, 3rd earl of Sunderland, was curt in the extreme. Luttrell, Brief Relation, vi. 166; Wentworth Pprs. 132; HP Commons 1690-1715, v. 890; Add. 61652, f. 18. Windsor’s removal elicited profound annoyance within much of the officer corps, among whom he was well liked and respected. Wentworth Pprs. 162; Hanmer Corresp. ed. Bunbury, 105-6. It also provoked him to complain directly to John Churchill, duke of Marlborough, of the manner with which he had been dealt, which had left him ‘on a sudden, I know not how, nor why, discarded and disgraced.’ Add. 61297, ff. 152-3. The financial implications of the loss of his regiment were compounded by a downturn in the rents accruing from Windsor’s Welsh lands in 1708, and he was further troubled at about this time with a series of legal disputes. NLW, Bute mss, L36/25. An action in Chancery initiated in 1707, which was brought by some of the creditors of the late earl of Pembroke, against Lady Windsor continued until at least 1711, while another dispute concerning Windsor’s purchase of land at Bramber remained unsettled in 1717. NLW, Tredegar mss, 58/124-5; TNA, C128/2; NLW, Bute mss, C61/1-3. Despite these distractions, Windsor was able to employ his interest successfully on behalf of William Shippen^‡, Dixie Windsor’s brother-in-law, at the by-election at Bramber in December 1707. Windsor was also able to secure his own return for both Bramber and Monmouthshire the following year. Corresp. of Sir James Clavering ed. H.T. Dickinson, (Surtees Soc. clxxviii) 5; NLW, Bute mss, L36/22. He chose to sit for the latter, and continued to do so until his elevation to the Lords in January 1712.

Windsor’s rental income rallied in 1709. NLW, Bute mss, L36/37. In May 1710 he exhibited a bill in chancery against his ally, Henry Somerset, 2nd duke of Beaufort, over an enclosure dispute in one of his Welsh manors. TNA, C33/314, f. 517. Later the same year he was again successful at Bramber. He also employed his interest there on behalf of his brother, Andrews Windsor. Towards the end of the year rumours circulated that Windsor would be restored to a command in the army either displacing William Cadogan^†, later Earl Cadogan, as colonel of a cavalry regiment or succeeding to that headed by Samuel Masham, later Baron Masham, who was expected to be offered a place in the royal household. Windsor was restored finally to a colonelcy in April 1711, though Cadogan maintained command of his regiment until the following year. Add. 61461, f. 95; HP Commons 1690-1715, iii. 430, 432; Longleat, Bath mss, Thynne pprs. 47, ff. 201-2. Perhaps encouraged by this upturn in his fortunes, Windsor was noted by Peter Wentworth^‡ in June, to be ‘stirring about to make interest to be made an English peer’. He also recorded his irritation at the rumour that Sir Richard Child^‡, later Earl Tylney [I], was shortly to be ennobled in return for a payment of £10,000, complaining ‘that’s beginning too soon to be like the duchess of M[arlborough], to do anything for money, making a man that’s no gentleman a lord.’ Wentworth Pprs. 203; HP Commons 1690-1715, iii. 526.

In spite of his efforts, Windsor was not among those promoted in September 1711. NLW, Bute mss, L36/56. He finally achieved his objective of an English peerage in January of the following year when he came in as one of the 12 new creations engineered by Oxford (as Harley had since become) to bolster support for the ministry in the House. Although he was the first of the 1 Jan. 1712 creations, with his patent timed 7 a.m. to distinguish him from Henry Paget, Baron Burton (later earl of Uxbridge) whose patent was timed an hour later, Windsor was disappointed in his expectation that he would be first in precedence and he had to accept second place behind Oxford’s son-in-law, George Hay, Baron Hay (later 8th earl of Kinnoull [S]), who outranked Windsor by virtue of his Scottish viscountcy of Dupplin. Sainty, Peerage Creations, 35; Add. 22,226, f. 60. Windsor found it impossible to disguise his bitterness at falling behind those he considered to be his true social equals. Commenting to his brother Thomas Wentworth, earl of Strafford, a former comrade-in-arms and close friend of Windsor, Peter Wentworth recorded how:

I was today to wish my Lord Windsor joy, and he told me he and you used to go hand in hand in your preferments, but now you had so far outstripped him that there was no hopes of his overtaking you unless his nephew [Other Windsor, 2nd earl of Plymouth], and children died, and then he might be before. He spoke this only to show how the world went, for nobody could have more satisfaction in your preferment than he had. I believe he really wishes you well, but I can but think has some little burning of envy. Add. 22,222, ff. 425, 429, 431; Wentworth Pprs. 237.

William Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley of Stratton, confirmed Peter Wentworth’s assessment. On Windsor’s elevation he wondered ‘how a man of his singularity likes coming in with so much company.’ Wentworth Pprs. 242.

Whatever Windsor’s disappointment at ‘coming in’ as part of a mass creation, he took his seat in the House as Baron Mountjoy on 2 Jan. 1712, introduced between Francis North, Baron Guilford, and Charles Boyle, Baron Boyle (and 4th earl of Orrery [I]). Windsor’s choice of title was intended as a reference to one of his family’s forebears, who had married a sister of Edward Blount^†, 2nd Baron Mountjoy, a barony extinguished at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Windsor proved regular in his attendance during the session, being present on 64 per cent of all sitting days. He came under heavy criticism for voting in favour of the grants bill but answered his critics by asserting that he had been told that if he did not vote he would ‘destroy the man to whom he owed it that he had a right to vote at all.’ Add. 61461, ff. 153-4. On 23 May he received the proxy of Charles Seymour, 6th duke of Somerset, which was vacated on 27 May. Although he was marked as being present on the attendance list that day, Windsor registered his own proxy in favour of Charles Talbot, duke of Shrewsbury (perhaps in anticipation of the general summons for the following day). In the event it proved unnecessary and the proxy was vacated by his resumption of his seat on 28 May on which day he voted with the ministry in rejecting the opposition’s calls for an address to the queen to overturn the orders restraining James Butler, 2nd duke of Ormond, from campaigning against the French. PH, xxvi, 177-81. At the beginning of June Windsor was included in a list of doubtful court supporters compiled by Oxford, but in advance of the following session he was noted by Dean Swift as one of those expected to support the ministry.

Windsor took his seat on 9 Apr. 1713, and again proved conscientious in his attendance, being present for approximately 73 per cent of all sitting days. Oxford’s forecast of his likely behaviour in the session proved to be more reliable than that of Swift. On 31 May 1713 Windsor was listed as one of those to be contacted in advance of the vote for confirming the French commerce treaty, and on 13 June he was noted by Oxford as being probably opposed to the measure. The same day he was included in a further list of 12 court supporters expected to oppose the ministry in the vote on the treaty. Other peers listed included Lady Windsor’s uncle, Thomas Herbert, 8th earl of Pembroke, but Windsor’s opposition probably stemmed from his association with John Campbell, 2nd duke of Argyll [S] (also earl of Greenwich), and Arthur Annesley, 4th earl of Anglesey. Both were increasingly hostile to Oxford’s leadership and Windsor appears thereafter to have been a consistent member of Anglesey’s grouping of ‘Hanoverian Tories’. PH, i. 63; Pols. in Age of Anne, 281.

Despite his growing disquiet at Oxford’s administration, Windsor was one of those detailed to greet the French ambassador, the duc d’Aumont, at this formal entry in July 1713. Add. 22220, ff. 76-77. At the general election the following month Windsor again employed his interest successfully at Bramber on behalf of his brother, Andrews, but he withdrew his support from Shippen in favour of Francis Hawley^‡, 2nd Baron Hawley [I] (another associate of Anglesey’s group). In Monmouthshire, where the principal interest was contested between the Morgans of Tredegar and the dukes of Beaufort, Windsor offered his assistance to the latter in favour of Sir Charles Kemys^‡, who was returned narrowly ahead of his Whig competitor, Thomas Lewis^‡. HP Commons 1690-1715, ii. 406-7, 603. Continuing difficulties over the settlement of the former earl of Pembroke’s debts (in excess of £2,200) led to a proposal to sell off some of the Welsh estates in December 1713, but this scheme proved difficult to execute. The Monmouthshire estates were found to be too encumbered and income from the Glamorganshire estates was no longer sufficient to cover annuities. NLW, Bute mss, L36/59, 60. In Worcestershire, Windsor indicated his eagerness to co-operate with William Lloyd, of Worcester, by presenting his nephew, Dr Lloyd, to a living reputed to be worth £600 a year. Add. 70070, newsletter, 19 Dec. 1713.

In advance of the session Windsor let it be known that he favoured inviting the electoral prince, Prince George, duke of Cambridge, (later King George II), to England in reaction to the news of the queen’s ill health. Macpherson, Orig. Pprs. ii. 546. He took his seat in the House for the new Parliament on 2 Mar. 1714. The following day he demonstrated once more his discontent with the ministry by registering his proxy in Orrery’s favour. Add. 22220, ff. 106-8. Orrery employed it on 5 Apr. in opposition to the motion that the words ‘under her majesty’s government’ be added to the question whether the Protestant succession in the House of Hanover was in danger. Wentworth Pprs. 364; Timberland, ii. 412-13. The proxy was vacated on Windsor’s return to the House on 12 April. In the intervening period Windsor had entertained the Scots Member, George Baillie^‡, at his retreat at Twickenham: another instance of Windsor’s association with Whigs and their associates at this juncture. Haddington mss, Mellerstain letters vi, Baillie to his wife, 30 Mar. 1714. It was perhaps in response to such perceived acts of disloyalty that it was rumoured that Windsor was to be deprived of his regiment. Macpherson, 588. On 27 May he was forecast by Daniel Finch, 2nd earl of Nottingham, as being in favour of the schism bill. Absent again briefly from 28 May, on 3 June he registered his proxy with his nephew, Plymouth, possibly to ensure that his vote was not lost in any divisions on the schism bill, which was then being debated. The proxy was vacated by his resumption of his seat on 10 June.

Following the death of Queen Anne, Windsor attended ten days of the brief fifteen-day session, but he was said to have been ‘very angry’ not to have been made one of the regents. He was equally critical of the Daily Courant’s reporting of a speech given by Strafford, in which he was said to have declared King George’s ‘acquired right’ to the crown rather than his ‘undoubted’ right, as Windsor insisted it should have been expressed. Wentworth Pprs. 410, 413. Support for the Hanoverian succession presumably saved Windsor from being removed from his colonelcy and on 26 Jan. 1715 he was included on a list of Tories still in office. He retained the command of his regiment for a further two years and continued to attend the House regularly for the remainder of his life, sitting for the final time on 21 June 1737. The latter part of his career will be dealt with in the next phase of this work.

Windsor died on 8 June 1738 and was buried according to his wishes next to his wife in Salisbury cathedral. An inventory of his goods at his house in Albemarle Street valued them at a little over £400 but his trustees’ accounts suggest that at the time of his death his estates generated approximately £32,000 p.a. NLW, Bute mss, A10/819, 822, 827. In his will provision for the inheritance of his estates was made among his daughters and surviving brother, Andrews Windsor. A natural son, William FitzThomas (alias Windsor) noted as a lieutenant in the regiment commanded by General George Wade^‡ was also acknowledged. Windsor was succeeded in the peerage by his second, but only surviving legitimate son, Herbert Windsor^†, 2nd Viscount Windsor [I] and 2nd Baron Mountjoy, who had been married the previous year to one of the daughters of Sir John Clavering. The marriage was said to have brought with it £60,000. Following the 2nd Viscount’s death without male heirs all interest in the Windsor estates passed to the family of the earls of Bute. Benham, Bute Estate Records, iii.