English country gentleman and member of parliament
Sir George Hungerford (1637–1712), of Cadenham House, Bremhill, Wiltshire, was an English country gentleman and member of parliament.[1][2]
He was the son of Edward Hungerford(d. 1667) of Cadenham by Susan, daughter of Sir John Pretyman of Driffield, Gloucestershire,[1] sister of Sir John Pretyman, 1st Baronet.[3] He was heir to a minor branch of an extensive and influential family in Wiltshire, which had settled at Bremhill in the 16th century.[2] He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford in 1653 and was admitted to Lincoln's Inn three years later.[4]
In 1659 he joined his father in sending servants to a rendezvous near Bath for an abortive Royalist uprising in 1659, although neither attended themselves.[1] By April 1661, when he was returned unopposed to represent Cricklade in parliament, he had received a knighthood from Charles II.[1] He was largely inactive during his first term in parliament, but from 1677 he became an increasingly vocal supporter of the Whig faction.[1] In October 1679 he was elected as an Exclusion candidate[5] to represent Calne[1] He continued his opposition to the Crown and was returned for Calne again in March 1681.[1] He appears to have kept a low profile during the short reign of James II,[1] but was returned as knight of the shire for Wiltshire from 1695 to November 1701.[2]
Family
He married Frances (d. 1715), daughter of Charles Seymour, 2nd Baron Seymour of Trowbridge in 1665.[6] They had large family and he blamed the extravagance of his children for the depletion of his estate.[2] His eldest son George died in 1698[7] and his was succeeded by his younger son Walter.[2]