Family and Education

b. 25 July 1747, o.s. of Reginald Lygon (formerly Pyndar) of Madresfield Court by Susanna, da. of William Hanmer of Bettisfield, Flints.  educ. Ch. Ch. Oxf. 1764.  m. 1 Nov. 1780, Catherine, da. of James Denn, 5s. 6da.  suc. fa. 1788; cr. Baron Beauchamp 26 Feb. 1806; Earl Beauchamp 1 Dec. 1815.

Offices Held

Biography

Lygon was returned unopposed for Worcestershire at the by-election of 1775 and at the general elections of 1780 and 1784. In Parliament he voted against North’s Administration, his name appearing in seven out of the thirteen division lists 1775-80. Robinson wrote of him in his survey for the general election of 1780: ‘Mr. Lygon is not violently against, and did not attend in many of the late popular questions.’ And in the five critical divisions February-March 1782 he voted in only two, 27 Feb. and 8 Mar., and paired in one, 15 Mar.—each time on the Opposition side.

He did not vote on Shelburne’s peace preliminaries or Fox’s East India bill, and Robinson wrote of him in his survey for the general election of 1784: ‘Mr. Lygon not unlikely to be generally for, but however classed doubtful.’ Lygon voted for parliamentary reform, 7 May 1783, and supported Pitt’s Administration. About 1786 he began applying to Pitt for a peerage.1 He signed the third party circular of 1 May 1788, but supported Pitt over the Regency. There is no record of his having spoken in the House before 1790.

He died 21 Oct. 1816.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: John Brooke

Notes

• 1. Lygon to Pitt, 23 July 1786, Chatham mss.