George Dodington, 1st Baron Melcombe

George Bubb at a young age

Caricature of George Bubb Dodington and Sir Thomas Robinson

George Bubb Dodington, 1st Baron Melcombe PC (1691 – 28 July 1762) was an English politician and nobleman.

Christened simply George Bubb, he changed his surname to Dodington by Act of Parliament around the time his uncle George Dodington died in 1720 and left him his estate.^[1] Enormously rich, he became a friend of Frederick, Prince of Wales, who took advantage of their acquaintance to obtain loans that helped clear his debts, and, on being thrown out of St James's Palace by his father, King George II, moved into a London house belonging to Dodington. He had many contacts with artists and was a collector, purchasing antiquities via Cardinal Albani in Rome.^[2] His house at Hammersmith, known as 'La Trappe' (an ironic reference to a Trappist monastery) was the focus of a lively political and cultural salon of supporters of Frederick, Prince of Wales whose palace at Kew was located just across the river. It was designed by the neo-Palladian architect Roger Morris who had been connected with the circle of Lord Burlington ^[3] and the sculpture gallery was designed by the Italian architect and firework display designer Giovanni Niccolo Servandoni^[4]. Dodington is said to have been involved in a spy-ring, collecting valuable information about Jacobite activities. In 1761, following the accession of Frederick's son to the throne as George III, he was created Baron Melcombe.

Historian N.A.M. Rodger describes Dodington as an "indefatigable schemer" on behalf of his friends and interests of the time.^[5] Dodington is depicted in William Hogarth's 1761 engraving Five Orders of Periwigs; his diary was published posthumously in 1784 by Henry Penruddocke Wyndham.

References

↑ Deed Poll Office: Private Act of Parliament 1717 (4 Geo. 1). c. 1
↑ Lewis, Lesley (1961). Connoisseurs and Secret Agents. London: Chatto and Windus.
↑ \Wolfe and Gandon (1739). Vitruvius Britannicus II. London. pp. plates 28 and 29.
↑ Hornsby, Clare (1991). "Antiquarian extravagance in Hammersmith: the sculpture gallery of George Bubb Dodington". Apollo. 133 (358 pp 410-414).
↑ Rodger, N.A.M. (1986). The Wooden World: An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. p. 31. ISBN 0870219871.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to George Bubb Doddington.

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Melcombe, George Bubb Doddington.

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Robert Bristow George Dodington	Member of Parliament for Winchelsea 1715–1722 With: Robert Bristow	Succeeded by Robert Bristow Thomas Townshend
Preceded by Thomas Palmer William Pitt	Member of Parliament for Bridgwater 1722–1754 With: Thomas Palmer 1722–1727, 1731–1735 Sir Halswell Tynte, Bt 1727–1731 Sir Charles Wyndham, Bt 1735–1741 Vere Poulett 1741–1747 Peregrine Poulett 1747–1753 Robert Balch 1753–1754	Succeeded by Robert Balch The Earl of Egmont
Preceded by Sir James Thornhill Edward Tucker Thomas Pearse George Dodington	Member of Parliament for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis 1734–1735 With: Edward Tucker Thomas Pearse George Dodington	Succeeded by Edward Tucker Thomas Pearse George Dodington John Tucker
Preceded by Sir John Ramsden, Bt Walter Plumer	Member of Parliament for Appleby 1741 With: Sir John Ramsden, Bt	Succeeded by Sir John Ramsden, Bt Sir Charles Wyndham, Bt
Preceded by Welbore Ellis George Dodington Edward Hungate Beaghan Lord George Cavendish	Member of Parliament for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis 1754–1761 With: Welbore Ellis Lord John Cavendish John Tucker	Succeeded by John Tucker Sir Francis Dashwood, Bt John Olmius Richard Glover
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Lord Bingley	British Ambassador to Spain 1715-1717	Succeeded by John Chetwynd
Political offices
Preceded by Sir John Rushout, Bt	Treasurer of the Navy 1744–1749	Succeeded by Henry Bilson-Legge
Preceded by George Grenville	Treasurer of the Navy 1756	Succeeded by George Grenville
Honorary titles
Preceded by George Dodington	Lord Lieutenant of Somerset 1720–1744	Succeeded by The Earl Poulett
Preceded by George Dodington	Vice-Admiral of Somerset 1720–1762	Vacant Title next held by The Earl of Egmont
Peerage of Great Britain
New creation	Baron Melcombe 1761–1762	Extinct

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