BATHURST, ALLEN, Earl of Bathurst, one of the last luminaries of Queen Anne's reign, was born in the year 1684. His studies and education were equally conducive to the brilliant figure he was destined to make in social life and in the senate, as a polite scholar, patriot, and statesman. These talents he had an opportunity of displaying as early as the year 1705, when, at the request of his father, Sir Benjamin Bathurst, and the solicitation of the constituency of Cirencester, he represented that borough in parliament. He distinguished himself particularly in the struggles and debates relative to the union between the two kingdoms; firmly supporting a measure which he thought calculated to strengthen the government and add to the prosperity of the country. Though he was contented to act a subordinate part in the opposition planned by Mr Harley and Mr St John, his intimate friends, in order to sap the credit of the Duke of Marlborough and his adherents, nevertheless he did good service to his party by arraigning, with more eloquence than truth, the conduct of the general and of the Earl of Godolphin, whom he accused of lavishing the treasures of the nation on conquests more splendid than serviceable. The loss of the battle of Almanza, which happened about this time, seconded his efforts and those of his associates in dispelling what they called the intoxication of former successes, and disparaging achievements which reflect immortal honour on the British name. But his personal regard for Lord Somers, president of the council, suffered no abatement, although they were of different opinions in politics; and when that great man was deprived of office, Mr Bathurst acted with such tenderness and delicacy as to preserve his esteem in a private station. In consideration of his zeal and services, the queen, in 1711, advanced him to the peerage by the title of Baron Bathurst, of Battlesden, in Bedfordshire.
His lordship continued to speak his sentiments with undaunted freedom in the upper house, and became a vigorous opponent of the court measures in the reign of George I., and during Sir Robert Walpole's administration. The scrutiny of the prosecutions carried on against the Earl of Oxford, Lord Bolingbroke, and the Duke of Ormond, stimulated his indignation against such vindictive proceedings; and he observed, "that the king of a faction was but the sovereign of half his subjects."
The South Sea Scheme having infected all classes with a spirit of wild speculation, when the people awoke from their delirium a vast number of families were involved in ruin. Lord Bathurst publicly impeached the directors, whose arts had enabled them to amass enormous fortunes during the prevalence of the mania; he represented that the national honour was concerned in stripping them of their ill-gotten wealth; and he moved for having all the directors of the South Sea Company punished for their sordid knavery, by the forfeiture of their estates.
When the bill was brought into the House of Lords against that learned prelate Dr Atterbury, bishop of Rochester, his lordship spoke against it with great vehemence. He concurred with all his might in the opposition to Sir Robert Walpole; and when, after an obstinate struggle, this minister was forced to resign all his employments, Lord Bathurst was sworn of the privy council, and made captain of the gentlemen pensioners, a post which he resigned in 1744. In 1757 he was appointed treasurer to George III. (then
Prince of Wales), and continued in the list of privy counsellors at that monarch's accession to the throne; but, on account of his advanced age, he declined embarking again in political contentions.
Lord Bathurst's integrity gained him the esteem even of his opponents, while his humanity and benevolence procured him the affection of all who knew him more intimately; and he added to his public virtues all the good breeding, politeness, and elegance, of social intercourse. Congreve, Vanbrugh, Swift, Prior, Rowe, Addison, Pope, Arbuthnot, Gay, and most of the men of genius of his own time, cultivated his friendship, and were proud of his correspondence. Pope, in his Epistle on the Use of Riches, which is addressed to Lord Bathurst, compliments his friend in some highly characteristic lines. Sterne, too, in his letters to Eliza, speaks of him in terms of affectionate admiration. "This nobleman," says he, "is a prodigy: for at eighty-five he has all the wit and promptness of a man of thirty; a disposition to be pleased, and a power to please others, beyond what I ever knew; added to which, a man of learning, courtesy, and feeling."
Lord Bathurst was elevated to an earldom in 1772, and lived to see his eldest son promoted to the peerage by the title of Baron Apsley, and several years lord high chancellor of Great Britain. His lordship married Catharine, daughter of Sir Peter Apsley, by whom he had two other sons and five daughters. He died, after a few days' illness, at his seat near Cirencester, on the 16th of September 1775, in the ninety-first year of his age.