Family and Education

b. 25 Oct. 1770, 1st s. of Charles Bagot Chester, Oporto merchant (who took the additional name of Chester on inheriting Chicheley from his cos. Sir Charles Bagot Chester, 7th Bt., 1755) by his cos. Catherine, da. of Hon Heneage Legge, baron of Exchequer, 2nd s. of William, 1st Earl of Dartmouth. educ. Westminster 1783-8; Christ Church, Oxf. 1788. unm. suc. fa. 1793.

Offices Held

Biography

Bagot Chester was returned for Castle Rising by his uncle Richard Howard, who nominated to one seat there in the right of his wife; but as Howard held a lucrative place under government, his nephew’s return was endorsed by Pitt who expected him to support administration.1 This he did silently. He was listed as a supporter of Pitt’s second ministry in September 1804 and July 1805. A year later, Earl Temple complained that by his uncle’s direction Chester was voting against the Grenville ministry, which he thought scandalous. He suggested that pressure should be put on Howard and on Chester, who, he added, had connected himself with the Duke of Rutland, to toe the line. In September 1806 the Marquess of Buckingham made the same complaint.2 Yet his name did not appear in the surviving divisions against the ministry. On 15 Apr. 1807 he was granted ten days’ leave of absence, having served on the Lanark election committee. He retired in 1807 to make way for another nephew of Howard’s. He was clearly not interested in politics, but was well known as a man of fashion, fond of the Turf and of gambling; and was obliged to sell part of the Chicheley Hall estate, which he left to his nephew, to pay his debts.3 He died at Hampton Court 11 June 1838.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: R. G. Thorne

Notes

• 1. Add. 41851, f. 262.
• 2. Ibid.; Fremantle mss D/FR 51, Temple to Fremantle, 25 July 1806.
• 3. Waters, Gen. Mems. of Chesters of Chicheley, 617. Waters described Chester’s will as ‘iniquitous’, since it disinherited the next of kin, the 8th Bt.