WALCOT, Humphrey (1672-1743), of Bitterley, Salop.

Humphrey Walcot belonged to an ancient Shropshire family, with large estates between Ludlow and Bishop’s Castle, carrying an interest in both boroughs. A merchant, apprenticed in 1691 to a British firm in Cadiz, he was related to James Brydges, M.P., paymaster of the forces abroad 1705-13, created Duke of Chandos 1719, whose sister married his elder brother in 1696. Soon after this marriage he settled at Stanmore, near Cannons, the future seat of Brydges, with whom he became closely associated, both officially and in business on the board of the Royal African Company, in which his holding in 1716 amounted to £32,000.

In 1709 Walcot bought his brother’s estate of Bitterley Court,2J. R. Burton, Hist. Walcot Fam. 78-79. near Ludlow, which he contested unsuccessfully in 1710. He was returned for it as a Tory in 1713 but as a Whig who would often vote with the Tories in 1715, giving his interest at Bishop’s Castle to Lord Harley.3Chandos to Walcot, 15 and 21 Sept. 1714, 28 Dec. 1714, 13 Jan. and 5 Feb. 1715, Chandos letter bks. From 1715 he voted against the Government in all recorded divisions. He also looked after the interests of the African Company, at whose request he appears to have been instrumental in securing the rejection of a petition from its creditors to the Commons for an enquiry into its affairs in 1720.4General court, 27 Jan. 1720, T70/101, ff. 190-6; CJ, xix. 280. Though supported by Chandos, who had bought the manor of Bishop’s Castle from the Harleys in 1718, he lost his seat in 1722 and did not stand again.5Chandos to J. Baldwyn, 9 Nov., 11 Dec. 1721, to Sir F. Charlton, 18 Feb. 1722, Chandos letter bks. He died in October 1743.