WHARTON, Philip (1555-1625)

The Wharton family were living in the Westmorland manor from which they derived their surname by the reign of Edward I. By the fifteenth century they were minor gentry, holding the manor of Wharton from the Clifford family and, thanks to their connection with the Cliffords, hereditary sheriffs of Westmorland; Richard Wharton^‡ was elected for the county in 1414.24 M. James, Soc., Pols. and Culture, 103; HP Commons, 1386-1421, iv. 824-5. It was Thomas Wharton^† (c.1495-1568) who brought the family to prominence. He became a trusted servant of Henry Percy^†, 5th earl of Northumberland, who surrendered to him the Percy interest in Cumberland, as well as property in Yorkshire, including the manor of Healaugh, which became an alternative family residence. After the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536, which he helped to suppress, and Northumberland’s death the following year, Wharton became a key royal servant in the north-west, winning the battle of Solway Moss against the Scots in 1542. Two years later he was made warden of the west march and was raised to the peerage as a baron. Edward Seymour^†, earl of Hertford (subsequently 1st duke of Somerset) reported to Henry VIII that he had delivered the patent of creation to Wharton on 18 Mar. 1544. However, the patent has not survived and was not enrolled. Consequently the exact date of the creation is unknown and the House of Lords ruled erroneously, both in 1845 and 1915, that the Wharton peerage was a barony by writ.25 R.W. Hoyle, ‘Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland, and the Fall of the House of Percy, 1527-37’, Tudor Nobility ed. G.W. Bernard, 189; HP Commons, 1509-58, iii. 597-8; CP, xii. pt. 2, appendices, 14-15; Hamilton Pprs. ed. J. Bain, ii. 303. The 1st Lord Wharton received numerous grants of land, mostly former monastic properties, accumulating estates in Cumberland, county Durham, Westmorland, and Yorkshire which, by 1605, yielded over £2,000 a year.26 James, 130, 146-7; J. Simpson, ‘Wharton Hall and the Wharton Fam.’, Trans. Cumb. and Westmld. Arch. and Antiq. Soc. i. 236. He was also conservative in religion, as was his son Thomas^†, subsequently 2nd Lord Wharton, who entered into the service of Mary Tudor, becoming a privy councillor after Mary succeeded to the throne. The future 2nd Lord may have been a supporter of Mary’s marriage to Philip II, who stood as godfather to his eldest son, the subject of this biography. He lost office on the accession of Elizabeth and was indicted for hearing mass in 1561. Though said to have been sympathetic to the 1569 rebellion of the northern earls, a near fatal accident put him out of action.27 HP Commons, 1509-58, iii. 598, 600-1.

The 3rd Lord Wharton was under-age when his father died in 1572 and so was entrusted to the guardianship both of his cousin, Thomas Radcliffe^†, 3rd earl of Sussex, to whom the wardship was formally granted, and the master of the Court of Wards, William Cecil^†, 1st Lord Burghley.28 APC, 1571-5, pp. 282-3; CPR, 1572-5, p. 231. Wharton presumably received a Protestant education as a result, but may nevertheless have continued to hold Catholic sympathies, as he apparently had contacts with Catholic priests during the Elizabethan period.29 CSP Dom. 1591-4, p. 380. Wharton’s Catholicism may explain why his grandson, Philip Wharton^†, 4th Lord Wharton, was initially included in plans to disarm the Catholic nobility in the autumn of 1625 despite the fact that Philip was then still a minor and being brought up in a godly household.30 CSP Dom. 1625-6, p. 153; G. F. T. Jones, Saw-Pit Wharton, 17.

Apart from attending the funeral of Prince Henry in 1612, Wharton appears to have played little part in the life of the Jacobean court.31 Nichols, ii. 497. However, his eldest son, Sir George Wharton^‡, was appointed a gentleman of the privy chamber soon after the accession of James I in 1603, and a knight of the Bath at the coronation.32 Letters of Philip Gawdy ed. I.H. Jeayes, 130-1; Harl. 6166, f. 68v; Shaw, Knights of Eng. i. 153. Sir George Wharton having been elected for Westmorland in 1601, thanks to his uncle, George Clifford^*, 3rd earl of Cumberland, it seems likely that the Whartons’ connection with Cumberland aided the return of Sir Richard Musgrave^‡, Lord Wharton’s son-in-law, for that county in 1604.33 HP Commons, 1558-1603, iii. 607-8; HP Commons, 1604-29, v. 454.

Lord Wharton attended 61 of the 71 sittings of the 1604 session, 86 per cent of the total, and was appointed to one in every ten of the committees named by the upper House (7 out of 70), two for conferences about the Union, and the remainder to consider bills, including two measures for the maintenance of harbours in Yorkshire and one against Catholic priests and recusants. Wharton made only one recorded speech, on 30 Apr., when he excused Cumberland’s absence.34 LJ, ii. 278a, 281a, 284a, 286a, 287a, 324b.

Wharton did not attend the 1605-6 session, but instead gave his proxy to his son-in-law, Edward Wotton^*, 1st Lord Wotton. It is likely that he also missed the 1606-7 session as he made no contribution to its proceedings and again appointed a proxy, on this occasion the lord chamberlain, Thomas Howard^*, 1st earl of Suffolk. The record of his attendance at three sittings may be a clerical mistake. He was not recorded as attending the first session of 1610, when he again gave his proxy to Suffolk.35 Ibid. 355b, 449b, 548b. However, he attended 10 of the 21 sittings of the second session of 1610, 48 per cent of the total. During that time he was named to three of the seven committees established by the Lords: to attend a conference to appeal to the lower House to grant the king supply in the aftermath of the collapse of the Great Contract, for bills to prevent lawsuits over bequests of land and to enable Prince Henry to administer the duchy of Cornwall estates. He made no recorded speeches.36 Ibid. 675a, 677a, 678a.

After a dissolute career at court, Wharton’s eldest son, Sir George, was killed in a duel in November 1609, leaving large debts which appear to have put a significant strain on Wharton’s finances. In early 1611 his only surviving son, Sir Thomas^‡, married the daughter of Sir Robert Carey^* (subsequently 1st earl of Monmouth), who brought with her a dowry which reportedly amounted to £6,000. This prompted Wharton to make over a large part of his estates to Sir Thomas who was charged with repaying the debts.37 HP Commons, 1558-1603, iii. 607-8; T. Birch, Ct. and Times of Jas. I, 110; C2/Eliz/W2/16; 2/Eliz/W4/14. In addition, in December 1611, Wharton and his son were granted the reversion of a lease of a manor in Yorkshire in recompense for Sir George’s services to the king.38 CSP Dom. 1611-18, p. 104; SO3/5, unfol. (Dec. 1611).

Sir Thomas was elected for Westmorland to the 1614 Parliament. On 4 Apr., the day before the session started, Wharton himself was granted leave to be absent from Parliament, procured by Sir Thomas Lake^‡, but he was nevertheless recorded, perhaps mistakenly, as being in attendance on the 5th. His proxy was not entered in the Journal, but Henry Hastings^*, 5th earl of Huntingdon, marked both Suffolk and the favourite, Robert Carr^*, earl of Somerset, who had made large purchases of lands in the north-west, as the recipients of Wharton’s proxy. It is not clear whether Wharton did indeed appoint two proxies, or whether he transferred it from one man to the other during the Parliament. Another possibility, of course, is that Huntingdon was simply mistaken. After the first day of the session Wharton was not recorded as having attended the upper House until 30 May, when he delivered his writ of summons to the clerk. He subsequently attended the final four sittings before Parliament was dissolved on 7 June. He received no committee appointments and made no recorded speeches.39 HP Commons, 1604-29, ii. 427; SO3/6, unfol. (4 Apr. 1614); HMC Hastings, iv. 283-4; Chamberlain Letters ed. N.E. McClure, i. 480; LJ, ii. 686a. Wharton contributed 166 ounces of gilt plate to the benevolence levied in the aftermath of that Parliament.40 E351/1950. Three years later James I stayed one night at Lord Wharton’s house at Wharton on his return from Scotland.41 Nichols, iii. 393.

Sir Thomas Wharton failed to settle his late brother’s debts. By about 1618 his father’s debts and his own totalled over £16,000. This prompted Lord Wharton and Sir Thomas to convey the bulk of the estate to Lord Wharton’s distant cousin, Humphrey Wharton, ‘being the only man whom he [Lord Wharton] trusted in the managing of his estate and all his worldly affairs’. Humphrey was to pay annually £600 to Lord Wharton and a further £500 a year to Sir Thomas, and use the rest of the profits to satisfy the creditors. However, Humphrey subsequently claimed that part of the revenue from the estate continued to be paid directly to Lord Wharton.42 Bodl., Carte 117, ff. 184, 186; E.R. Wharton, Whartons of Wharton Hall, 64.

On 24 Dec. 1620 Wharton was licensed to be absent from the forthcoming Parliament. It is therefore perhaps erroneous that he is listed as having attended on 6 and 8 Feb. 1621. He gave his proxy to the lord chamberlain, William Herbert^*, 3rd earl of Pembroke (who had succeeded Suffolk), despite Pembroke having quarrelled with Sir George Wharton over a game of cards in 1608.43 SO3/7, unfol. (24 Dec. 1620); LJ, iii. 4a; Illustrations of Brit. Hist. ed. E. Lodge, iii. 242-3. Wharton’s second wife was named in the impeachment of the lord chancellor, Francis Bacon^*, Viscount St Alban, whom she had bribed in order to secure a Chancery decree concerning the estate of her second husband, Sir Francis Willoughby. However, Wharton himself was not involved, having long since separated from his wife, despite the fact that his name was used by her in the lawsuit that had given rise to the decree. (In 1612 he had granted her permission to bring lawsuits in his name, at her own costs, concerning the property she had owned before their marriage, in return for her agreement to relinquish her jointure in the Wharton estates.)44 S.R. Gardiner, Hist. of Eng. iv. 72-8; C33/137, f. 1541; HMC Rutland, i. 385; Hatfield House, CP Petitions 2360. Bills to reverse the Chancery decree were introduced in the Commons in 1621 and 1624 but were not enacted.45 CD 1621, vi. 157; CJ, i. 684.

By the time the 1624 Parliament was summoned Wharton was 69 years old. On 18 Jan. Secretary of State Sir George Calvert^‡, who was closely connected with the Wharton family, wrote to his colleague Sir Edward Conway^* (subsequently 1st Viscount Conway), seeking the king’s signature for a leave of absence for Wharton, ‘in respect of his great age and much weakness of body’, describing the baron as ‘a good old lord’. The licence was issued four days later.46 SP14/158/24; Life and Letters of Sir Henry Wotton ed. L. Pearsall Smith, ii. 189; HP Commons, 1604-29, iii. 404; SO3/7, unfol. (22 Jan. 1624). Wharton was not included in the attendance lists in the Journal for the Parliament, possibly indicating that the final version of the Journal was completed after his death.

Wharton died on 26 Mar. 1625, one day before James I. He was buried in the vault of Healaugh church, where the 1st Lord Wharton had been interred.47 Bodl., Carte 109, f. 412. As his son Sir Thomas had predeceased him, in 1622, Wharton’s heir was his 12-year old grandson and namesake. Administration of Wharton’s estate was granted to Sir Thomas’ widow in June 1625, when Wharton was described as formerly of Long Marston in Yorkshire, which suggests that, at his death, he was living with his recusant daughter, Eleanor, and her husband, William Thwaites.48 Mins. of Evidence … Bar. Wharton (1844), 66-7; Yorks. Peds. (Harl. Soc. xcvi), 368.