Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl Bathurst

Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl Bathurst PC (16 November 1684 – 16 September 1775), known as the The Lord Bathurst from 1712 to 1772, was a British politician.

Bathurst was the eldest son and heir of Sir Benjamin Bathurst, by his wife, Frances, daughter of Sir Allen Apsley, of Apsley, Sussex, and Frances daughter of John Petre of Bowhay, Devon. Bathurst belonged to an ancient family which is said to have settled in Sussex before the Norman Conquest. He was born in St James's Square, Westminster and christened at St James's Church in the precincts of the royal palace.

He matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford on 13 May 1700. He succeeded his father on 27 April 1704. That summer, he married his first cousin Catherine, daughter of Sir Peter Apsley by Catherine sister of William, and daughter of Samuel Fortrey.

Selected for Member of Parliament for Cirencester in May 1705 in the Country Tory interest, retaining his seat until December 1711, when with eleven others - the twelve apostles, so called - he was raised to the peerage by Queen Anne as Baron Bathurst, of Battlesden in the County of Bedford.

As a zealous Tory he defended Francis Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, and in the House of Lords was an opponent of Sir Robert Walpole. Careful never to engage in Jacobite plots, for example he condemned Sir John Fenwick's conspiracy, Bathurst remained largely aloof from the grubby business of politics. He was not a deeply religious man yet excelled, like Charles I in the collection of objets d'art. Traveling Europe on the Grand Tour of Italy he acquired furniture, paintings and precious stones. The mansion at Cirencester Park in the Cotswolds Hills became a centre for high culture, intellectual pursuits, and a haven for the excesses of the esoteric. he was one of the first of the fabulously wealthy aristocrats to landscape the gardens. Bathurst followed the plans of the foremost poet-philosopher in England, Alexander Pope. Pope was fluent in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Aramaic and Arabic, wrote episodic poetry, and plays for the theatre. He counted among his closest friends Sir Joseph Addison and Sir Richard Steele, the impressarios of the theatre land in London's Drury Lane. Bathurst paid for plays to be written and produced, patronised companies, and attended, but rarely the plays himself. Bathurst was liked and admired for his generosity; but behind the facade was an astute business acumen. Bathurst never overspent, yet invested heavily in his projects. He very nearly went bankrupt on several occasions, but always managed to survive. Towards the end of his life he remained in the country, never venturing to the gambling dens and capitals of vice.

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