Constituency Dates
Huntingdon 9 May 1787 – 1796
Family and Education
b. 23 Apr. 1752, 2nd s. of Ralph Payne, chief justice of St. Kitts by his 2nd w. Margaret Gallwey of St. Kitts; half bro. of Ralph Payne. educ. private sch. Greenwich; Royal Acad. Portsmouth 1767. m. 1s.1V. L. Oliver, Hist. Antigua, iii. 9; but he is not mentioned among the several legatees in Payne’s will, PCC 988 Marriott.
Offices Held

Entered R.N. c. 1769; lt. 1777; cdr. 1779; capt. 1780; r.-adm. 1799.

Keeper of the privy seal, and private sec. to Prince of Wales, and auditor of the duchy of Cornwall 1792 – 96; ld. warden of the stannaries 1796 – d.; treasurer of Greenwich Hospital 1799 – d.

Address
Main residence: Carlton House, London.
biography text

In 1787 Payne was returned for Huntingdon by Lord Sandwich, to whom he apparently lent money.2VCH Hunts. ii. 46. A close friend of the Prince of Wales, he opposed Pitt. In January 1789, during the Regency crisis, when a change of Administration still seemed imminent, Payne was said to be ‘such a favourite he is to be a lord of the Admiralty, and leans on the Prince as he walks, not the Prince on him’.3Miss Sayer to Mme. Huber, 29 Jan., Auckland Corresp. ii. 279. No speech by Payne is reported 1787-90.

He died 17 Nov. 1803.

Author
M.H.P.
Volume
Commons 1754-1790
Notes
  • 1. V. L. Oliver, Hist. Antigua, iii. 9; but he is not mentioned among the several legatees in Payne’s will, PCC 988 Marriott.
  • 2. VCH Hunts. ii. 46.
  • 3. Miss Sayer to Mme. Huber, 29 Jan., Auckland Corresp. ii. 279.