Family and Education

b. 19 Mar. 1727, 1st s. of Hon. Charles Ingram. educ. Westminster 1737-43. m. (lic. 28 June 1758) Frances Gibson, illegit. da. of Samuel Shepheard, 5da. suc. uncle as 9th Visct. Irwin [S] 14 Apr. 1763.

Offices Held

Groom of the bedchamber to George III as Prince of Wales and King 1756-63; rep. peer [S] 1768-d.

Biography

Before Charles Ingram was returned as a minor on his family’s interest, his uncle, Henry Ingram, 7th Viscount Irwin, had applied on his behalf to Newcastle for a commission in the Guards.1 Dropping this scheme because Charles ‘was the only son in the family’,2 he next applied unsuccessfully for an equerryship to the King.3 In 1751 he was too late with an application for Charles to be given a post in the new Prince of Wales’s household,4 but obtained a promise from the King to ‘provide for him upon a proper occasion’. He was most indignant when Charles was passed over for a vacant post of groom of the bedchamber to the Prince in 1752 in favour of a connexion of Pelham’s,5 but achieved his object in 1756. Two years later Charles married a great heiress, by whom he became the father of George IV’s mistress, Lady Hertford. He died 19 June 1778.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: J. B. Lawson

Notes

• 1. 10 Apr. 1746, 25 May 1747, Add. 32707, ff. 45, 251.
• 2. 19 Jan. 1748, Add. 32714, f. 71.
• 3. 29 Jan. 1747, Add. 32710, f. 289; 11 June 1747, Add. 32711, f. 256.
• 4. HMC Var. viii. 174.
• 5. 14 Jan. 1753, Newcastle (Clumber) mss.