BAGOT CHESTER, Charles (1770-1838), of Chicheley Hall, Bucks.

Bagot Chester was returned for Castle Rising by his uncle Richard Howard, who nominated to one seat there in the right of his wife; but as Howard held a lucrative place under government, his nephew’s return was endorsed by Pitt who expected him to support administration.1Add. 41851, f. 262. This he did silently. He was listed as a supporter of Pitt’s second ministry in September 1804 and July 1805. A year later, Earl Temple complained that by his uncle’s direction Chester was voting against the Grenville ministry, which he thought scandalous. He suggested that pressure should be put on Howard and on Chester, who, he added, had connected himself with the Duke of Rutland, to toe the line. In September 1806 the Marquess of Buckingham made the same complaint.2Ibid.; Fremantle mss D/FR 51, Temple to Fremantle, 25 July 1806. Yet his name did not appear in the surviving divisions against the ministry. On 15 Apr. 1807 he was granted ten days’ leave of absence, having served on the Lanark election committee. He retired in 1807 to make way for another nephew of Howard’s. He was clearly not interested in politics, but was well known as a man of fashion, fond of the Turf and of gambling; and was obliged to sell part of the Chicheley Hall estate, which he left to his nephew, to pay his debts.3Waters, Gen. Mems. of Chesters of Chicheley, 617. Waters described Chester’s will as ‘iniquitous’, since it disinherited the next of kin, the 8th Bt. He died at Hampton Court 11 June 1838.