BATHURST, Peter (1723-1801), of Clarendon Park, Wilts.

Bathurst had been chosen by Lord Cornwallis as a substitute for his brother at Eye in 1784, with special reference to his zealous support of Pitt’s administration. But he commited a faux pas. On 26 Jan. 1789 Cornwallis wrote ‘I should not choose to bring in Bathurst again after the vote he gave on the naval question’ and, although he subsequently described the vote as ‘inadvertent’, he found excuses for adhering to this resolution. Yet Cornwallis’s veteran Member Burton Phillipson was likely to die at any time, and after the election and in 1791 Cornwallis wondered whether Bathurst would submit to be returned again, or the electors of Eye re-elect him. On Burton Phillipson’s death he was duly substituted for him. As in the previous Parliament, he was a silent supporter of Pitt. When Cornwallis’s heir came of age he vacated in his favour. He died 20 Dec. 1801.1Kent AO, Cornwallis mss C1, Cornwallis to bp. of Lichfield, 26 Jan., 12 Aug. 1789, 10 Aug. 1790; Cornwallis Corresp. ii. 104.