AUFRERE, George Rene (1715-1801), of Chelsea, Mdx.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754-1790, ed. L. Namier, J. Brooke., 1964
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

21 Jan. 1765 - 1774

Family and Education

b. 7 Nov. 1715, 2nd s. of Israel Antoine Aufrère, a Huguenot clergyman, by Sarah Amsincq of a distinguished Dutch family. G. R. Aufrère’s gd.-fa., Marquis de Colville in France, fled to Holland in 1683 and emigrated to England in 1700. m. 1746, Arabella, da. of William Bate of Foston Hall, Derbys., 1da. who m. Charles Anderson Pelham.

Offices Held

Commr. for sale of French prizes 1756-64; director, London Assurance 1761-77; commr. for Liverpool on committee of the Africa Co. 1764-5.

Biography

Aufrère was a merchant, at first in partnership with Sir William Smith, linen draper in Cornhill; in 1743 with Smith and Peregrine Cust; and in 1763 with John Sargent. Before he entered Parliament he was a considerable subscriber to Government loans, but by 1765 his business activities had diminished a good deal and about 1770 he retired.

His wife was a cousin of Brownlow Cecil, 8th Earl of Exeter, and he was returned for Stamford on the Exeter interest. In July 1765 he was classed by Rockingham as ‘pro’ and was one of the merchants who dined with Rockingham 31 Dec. 1765 to discuss American policy.1 In November 1766 Rockingham classed him as ‘Whig’, Townshend in January 1767 as ‘Government’, and Newcastle in March as ‘friend’. He voted against Chatham’s Administration on the land tax, 27 Feb. 1767, and nullum tempus, 17 Feb. 1768.

No vote by him is recorded in 1769, but he was against Administration on Glynn’s motion, 6 Dec. 1770, and on three other divisions before the dissolution. His attendance seems to have been poor, and there is no record of his having spoken in the House. He did not stand in 1774.

He died, a wealthy man, 7 Jan. 1801. His widow at her death in 1804 left to her daughter Aufrère’s pictures, ‘one of the finest collections of paintings in the country’.2

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: John Brooke

Notes

  • 1. Rockingham to Newcastle, 2 Jan. 1766, Add. 32973, ff. 11-13.
  • 2. Agnew, Protestant Exiles from France, ii. 391.