CALVERT, Sir William (?1703-61), of Mount Mascal, nr. Bexley, Kent

Calvert was head of the family brewery in London. During his first Parliament he voted in Opposition, but by 1747 had become an Administration supporter. In 1754 he stood again for London. ‘I saw Sir William Calvert last night’, wrote Newcastle to the King on 6 Apr., ‘who told me he had the greatest appearance of merchants for him yesterday upon the exchange that ever was known; he seems confident of his success.’Add. 32835, ff. 48-49. Yet he was bottom of the poll, and Newcastle undertook to find him another seat. On 2 May 1754 Newcastle wrote to Robert Nugent, who had elected to sit for Bristol, leaving a vacancy at St. Mawes: ‘You now have an opportunity of doing a very agreeable thing to the King ... by choosing at St. Mawes as worthy, as honourable, and as useful a friend to the Government as can come into Parliament—I mean Sir William Calvert.’C. Nugent, Mem. Earl Nugent, 203. But Nugent returned his stepson, James Newsham. In the end Calvert was returned for Old Sarum without expense to himself.

On 19 Nov. 1758 he solicited from Newcastle the appointment of joint postmaster general:Add. 32885, f. 429.

My utmost ambition would be satisfied if peradventure I might some time or other arrive at the Post Office, because that had been frequently the honour and reward bestowed upon the most favoured citizens of London.

He applied again on 22 Apr. 1759, but was unsuccessful.

Calvert did not stand at the general election, and died 3 May 1761, aged 57.