Papers of George Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington (1675-1758)

Scope and Content

The papers of George Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington, have been divided into two series: commissions and appointments, 1706-1714 (EGR3/6/1); and other papers, 1693/4-1758 (EGR3/6/2).

The papers of George Booth's daughter, Mary Countess of Stamford, include statements of his account with John Jackson, his legal and financial adviser, 1757-8 (EGR3/7/1/1/1, /3 & /4); a copy of a letter from George Booth to his daughter discussing the financial problems that he inherited from his father and grandfather, 1744 (EGR3/7/3/2); a bundle of letters from George Booth to his daughter concerning the executorship of Thomas Walton's will and other matters, 1744/5-1757 (EGR3/7/3/3); and an abstract of George Booth's will, n.d. (EGR3/7/3/9). Among the papers of George Harry Grey (1737-1819), 5th Earl of Stamford, is the text of a sermon preached after George Booth's death in 1758 (EGR4/1/12/1). The subfonds EGR9 comprises records relating to the Earl of Warrington's Charity, which was established under the will of George Booth. The miscellaneous papers from Dunham Massey Hall contain a letter from George Booth to his bailiff Hugh Kinder, 1739 (EGR13/6).

Administrative / Biographical History

George Booth was the second son of Henry 1st Earl of Warrington. James, the eldest son, having died in infancy, George succeeded his father to the title and estates upon the latter's death in 1694. He had married Mary, eldest daughter and heiress of John Oldbury, a London merchant, in 1702. She was said to have had a fortune of £40,000. The marriage was not a happy one, and his experience led Booth to publish a treatise on the desirability of divorce on the grounds of incompatibility of temperament: Considerations upon the institution of marriage with some thoughts concerning the force and obligation of the matrimonial contract. wherein is considered, how far divorces may, or ought to be allowed, published anonymously, 1739.

The 2nd Earl of Warrington held few public offices, and did not play a leading role in the political arena. He argued that his father's and grandfather's excursions into national politics had ruined the Booth family financially, and he devoted his life to ridding himself of the inherited debt and restoring the family's fortunes. In large measure he succeeded, albeit at the expense of the family's political influence, but he did not have a son to continue the Booth line. His papers reflect his preoccupation with the financial problems he inherited, and his efforts to reduce the estate's indebtedness (see also the account among the papers of Mary Countess of Stamford, EGR3/7/3/2 below). An excellent account of George Booth's financial problems and their influence on his political behaviour, based on the Dunham Massey Papers and other material, is given in Beckett and Jones, 'Financial improvidence and political independence in the early eighteenth century', Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, vol. 65 no. 1 (1982), pp. 8-35.

Related Material

The following letters to Peter Legh sen, Lord of Lyme 1687-1744, are found among the Legh of Lyme Correspondence in the John Rylands Library:

Letter from George Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington 22 July 1727. G.B. apologizes for being unable to wait on P.L. next week with his uncle [Robert Booth], Dean of Bristol, but is hurrying to London on urgent business. G.B. will agree to whatever P.L. decides re disposal of money in Mr Legh of High Legh's hands.

Letter from George Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington, 28 June 1729. G.B. has sold the reversions of several tenements in Warrington lately to raise cash, and is about to sell more. He has no intention of selling the Royalty, though he believes it will be sold after his death, but if he ever changes his mind P.L. will have first refusal.

Letter from George Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington, 19 May 1738. G.B. hopes to visit P.L., his nephew and his new wife at Lyme next week, and invites them to Dunham, but asks P.L. to prepare his niece "for such unusual reception as I fear she'le meet with, for I yet perceive no likelihood of change in a Temper that has ever been stubborn and obstinate for above 36 years" [i.e. G.B.'s estranged wife Mary].

British Library Add MS 36288, ff. 187, 332 (Papers of Thomas Pelham Holles, Duke of Newcastle): letters from W. Jessop to the Duke of Newcastle referring to the Countess of Warrington's campaigning for the Whig candidate in the Cheshire elections, while her husband George Booth inclined "albeit coolly" towards Cholmondeley and Crewe, 1733. Reference kindly supplied by Mrs Marjorie Cox of Bowdon.

BL Add MSS 32709, f. 396; 32710, f. 23; 32734, f. 261; 32735, f. 362; 32737, f. 185; 32852, f. 144; 32853, f. 157; 32854, f. 343; 32857, f. 466; 32864, ff. 28, 500; 32866, f. 117; 32868, ff. 217, 517; 32869, ff. 47, 86, 114; 32872, f. 114; 32874, f. 292; 32875, f. 372; 32876, f. 441 (Papers of Duke of Newcastle): correspondence between George Booth and the Duke of Newcastle, 1746-1757.

BL Add MSS 35587, ff. 46, 54; 35588, f. 234; 35589, f. 131 (Hardwicke Papers): letters from George Booth to Sir Philip Yorke, 1st Lord Hardwicke, 1742-46.

BL Add MS 36151, f. 236 (Hardwicke Papers): suit of George Booth v. George Legh, 1733.

BL Add MS 36662, ff. 94-100, 104, 106: correspondence between George Booth and William Stanley of Alderley, 1726-27.

BL Add MS 36913, f. 184 (Aston Papers): letter from George Booth to Sir Willoughby Aston, 1690.

BL Add MSS 61284, ff. 29-30b; 61303, ff. 3-4b (Blenheim Papers): recommendation of George Booth to [John Churchill, 1st] Duke of Marlborough, 1704, 1706.

BL Add MSS 61496, ff. 20, 66, 134, 158; 61603, ff. 185-186b (Blenheim Papers): letters from George Booth to [Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of] Sunderland, 1719-1722.

BL Add Ch 76129 (Blenheim Papers): appointment of [Charles Townshend, 2nd] Viscount Townshend as George Booth's parliamentary proxy, 1715.

BL Loan 29/127/1: correspondence between George Booth and the Earl of Oxford, 1713-14 (cited by Beckett and Jones).