BARNE, Miles (1718-80), of Sotterley Hall, Suff.

Barne, who had purchased the Sotterley estate in Suffolk in 1744, and was returned for Dunwich on the interest of Sir George Downing in 1747, was dropped in 1754, but is reported to have declared then that should he outlive Downing he would stand again.‘Memorandum respecting the borough of Dunwich’, Barne mss, Ipswich E. Suff. RO. After Downing’s death in 1764 he combined with the Vannecks to oust the Downing interest in the borough and was returned unopposed. He was classed in Newcastle’s list of 10 May 1764 as a ‘sure’ friend; in Rockingham’s of July 1765 as ‘pro’, and in that of November 1766 as ‘Whig’. No vote or speech by him was reported during the 1761 Parliament. Barne voted with the Opposition on Wilkes’s petition, 27 Jan. 1769; voted for the petition of the clergy on the 39 Articles, 6 Feb. 1772, and was marked as ‘pro, present’ in Robinson’s first survey on the royal marriage bill, Mar. 1772, and as ‘pro, present, query’ in that of 9 Mar. He voted with the Administration on naval captains, 9 Feb. 1773; was marked in the King’s list on Grenville’s Election Act, 25 Feb. 1774, as a dissenting friend, and in Robinson’s survey of 1774 was classed as ‘pro’. No vote or speech of Barne’s is reported during the Parliament of 1774. In 1777 he resigned his seat because of ill-health, and died 27 Dec. 1780.