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ITS MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT. |
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of the family, and came to them, together with other houses and land on which now stands a great part of Liverpool Street Station, when the subject of this notice married Elizabeth Hawes, a daughter of his father's second wife by her first husband. On his father's death he hurried to the North of England to interview Charles I., to whom his uncle, Mr. John Courthope, was a gentleman-in-waiting, and managed to secure from the King, on payment to His Majesty of £1,300, the appointment to the Alienation Commissionership, which had been held by his father and grandfather. During the Protectorate he was summoned to appear before Cromwell's Council on a charge of having supplied the King and his family with money, and the charge was, no doubt, to an extent, true, but the trial was adjourned sine die and never completed. On the restoration of Charles II. he was present at the great banquet given by the King at Windsor Castle, being in attendance on the Earl of Northumberland, Lord Lieutenant of Sussex. That same morning he received the honour of knighthood, and the King remitted the fee of £100 usually demanded from those raised to this dignity, and also granted Sir George pardon for having sat as M.P. for East Grinstead in the Protectorate Parliament. Sir George subsequently sat in several Parliaments for Sussex constituencies and finally resigned in consequence of severe illness. His death occurred at Whiligh in 1685, and a mural tablet, with a Latin inscription, in Ticehurst Church, commemorates a man of considerable talent and a loyal servant of his King.
1661, March 28th. Charles, Lord Buckhurst, and George Courthope.
Lord Buckhurst, who became sixth Earl of Dorset, was born on Jan. 24th, 1637. He was elected to Parliament for East Grinstead soon after the restoration of Charles II., with whom, by reason of his courtly manners, generous nature and sprightly wit, he became a great favourite, being appointed a gentleman of the bedchamber. He saw some active service against the Dutch and went on several embassies to France. He was made Baron of Cranfield and Earl of Middlesex in |
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