BOONE, Charles (?1729-1819), of Barking Hall, Suff. and Lee Place, Kent

In November 1756 George, 3rd Earl of Orford, with whom Charles Boone had been at Eton, tried to have him returned for Callington, but had to give way to the candidate of his mother, the Dowager Lady Orford. In February 1757, and at all his subsequent elections for Castle Rising and Ashburton, Boone was returned by Orford, to whom, according to Horace Walpole, he proved ‘the single friend’ that ‘showed gratitude to him when he was no longer capable of serving anyone [i.e. when he was insane]’.Walpole to Mann, 28 Apr. 1777.

In 1761 Boone was sent Newcastle’s parliamentary whip direct. In November 1762 Henry Fox attempted to use him as an intermediary with Lord Orford.Mems. Geo. III, i. 169. Boone voted with the Administration on the division to postpone consideration of the peace preliminaries, 1 Dec. 1762, and in the autumn of 1763 was classed by Jenkinson as an Administration supporter; but in November 1763 Rigby wrote to Sandwich: ‘Pray be as civil to him as possible, he has been wavering but is disposed to become quite steady.’Sandwich mss. He did not vote against the Grenville Administration over Wilkes and general warrants. Rockingham in July 1765 classed him as ‘pro’ and in 1766 as ‘Swiss’ (prepared to vote with every Administration).

His first recorded vote in the Parliament of 1768 was with the Administration over Brass Crosby, 27 Mar. 1771. In both Robinson’s surveys on the royal marriage bill, March 1772, he was listed as ‘pro, present’; he voted with the Administration on the Middlesex election, 26 Apr. 1773; appears in the King’s list of dissenting friends on the Grenville Election Act, 25 Feb. 1774; was classed by Robinson as ‘pro’ in September 1774; and henceforward regularly supported Administration till the fall of North. In a survey drawn up for Shelburne in August 1782 Robinson noted about Boone: ‘Is a very independent man. Was pretty closely attached to the old Administration and in long habits of friendship with Mr. Rigby and his friends; may be hopeful.’Laprade, 45. Boone voted for Shelburne’s peace preliminaries, 18 Feb. 1783, and against Fox’s East India bill, 27 Nov. 1783. He regularly supported Pitt’s Administration. There is no record of his having spoken in the House.

Boone died 3 Mar. 1819, aged 89.