Family and Education

b. 28 Oct. 1686, 2nd s. of Sir Thomas Hare, 2nd Bt.†, of Stow Bardolph by Elizabeth, da. of George Dashwood, merchant, of Hackney, Mdx., and sis. of Sir Robert Dashwood, 1st Bt.*  educ. Oriel, Oxf. 1703.  m. Rosamond (d. 1773), da. of Charles Newby of Hooton, Yorks., 2da.  suc. bro. as 4th Bt. 22 Sept. 1732.1

Offices Held

Under-sec. of state, southern dept. 1710–14; first register and clerk of the crown in Barbados June–Oct. 1714.2

Biography

A younger son, Hare was appointed secretary to Henry St. John II*, later Lord Bolingbroke, in September 1710. In August 1712 he accompanied Bolingbroke to Paris for the peace negotiations, an experience which, as he confided to Lord Berkshire, confirmed him in the belief that ‘we have all the necessaries, and all the reasonable pleasures of life in our own country’. In early 1713 Hare unsuccessfully lobbied to be appointed secretary to the first lord of the Admiralty, and in the summer of that year Bolingbroke’s attempts to have him appointed secretary to the Duke of Shrewsbury, as lord lieutenant of Ireland, were similarly unsuccessful. Hare’s desire for further offices at this time stemmed from financial pressures. He complained to Lord Berkshire that in order to support homes in the country and London he required a salary of £1,000, and he and his fellow under-secretary estimated that though their place had yielded over £1,100 p.a. each before the peace it now gave them an income of only £128 p.a. Though Hare’s attempts to gain further office were initially baulked, he was able to gain the support of the government manager for the Cornish boroughs, Lord Lansdown (George Granville*), and secure his return for Truro at the 1713 election. In the debate of 18 Mar. 1714 on Richard Steele’s* pamphlets Hare spoke in favour of declaring them seditious libels, and his Tory sympathies were confirmed five days later when he told against setting a date for hearing the Whig petition on the London election. Hare’s solicitations for further office finally bore fruit in June, when he was granted a post in the West Indies, and on 9 July a writ was ordered for the by-election consequent upon his assumption of this office. In August he was returned unopposed, and in the Worsley list was classed as a Tory. He never stood for Parliament again. On the accession of George I he was dismissed from his posts, and in June 1715 was summoned to appear before the secret committee on the impeachments of members of the previous Tory ministry. Hare died on 21 Feb. 1760.3

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: Eveline Cruickshanks / Richard Harrison

Notes

• 1. IGI, London.
• 2. CSP Col. 1712–14, p. 355; 1714–15, p. 28.
• 3. Luttrell, Brief Relation, vi. 635; Norf. RO, Hare mss 5762; Bolingbroke Corresp. i. 9, 28; iii. 51, 135; iv. 205, 230; Wilts. RO, Suffolk and Berkshire mss 88/10/93, [Hare] to Berkshire, 19 Sept. 1712, 12 Sept. 1713 (ex inf. Dr C. Jones); Wentworth Pprs. 319–20; SP 34/22, ff. 118–19; Douglas diary (Hist. of Parl. trans.), 18 Mar. 1714; HMC Portland, v. 460, 510.