CARPENTER, George (c.1695-1749), of the Homme, Dilwyn, nr. Weobley, Herefs.

Returned for Morpeth by the corporation without a contest in 1717, Carpenter voted with the Government. Re-elected unopposed in 1722, he did not stand in 1727, having ascertained that a wealthy coal owner, George Bowes, had already secured a majority of the voters. Elected to the common council of the Georgia Society in 1732, he resigned in 1738, but was re-elected against his wish in 1739, resigning again in 1740.1HMC Egmont Diary, i. 286; ii. 468; iii. 34, 126. In 1741, having inherited an estate near Weobley, he was returned for that borough. Deserting Walpole on the Westminster election petition, 22 Dec. 1741, though promising to vote for him in future,2Coxe, Walpole, iii. 586. he was not included in the Cockpit list of ministerial supporters in October 1742, though for the rest of the Parliament he voted with the Government. He did not stand in 1747, having, according to the electoral survey of the 2nd Lord Egmont, who succeeded him at Weobley, so completely forfeited his interest there by ‘an ill behaviour to the people in matters of money’ that ‘he could not command a single vote’. He died 12 July 1749.