George Treby

Early life

Treby was baptised on 29 October 1685, the eldest son of Sir George Treby, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, by his third wife Dorothy Grainge. In 1692, he was admitted at Middle Temple. His father died in 1700 and he succeeded to his estates at Plympton. He matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford on 3 April 1701, aged 16.

Career

Treby was returned unopposed as Whig Member of Parliament for the family's Rotten Borough of Plympton Erle at the 1708 general election, when he was in his early twenties. He took an active part in debates of the House, and acted frequently as a teller on the Whig side. He voted for the naturalization of the Palatines in 1709, and the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell in 1710. He was returned unopposed again at the 1710 British general election and again was a frequent teller for the Whigs. He voted in favour of the motion for ‘No Peace Without Spain’ on 7 December 1711. He was returned unopposed again at the 1713 British general election. He was again a frequent teller, and voted against the expulsion of Richard Steele,

Treby was returned unopposed as MP for Plympton Erle at the 1715 British general election and was a Commissioner for forfeited estates from June 1716 to 1719. In 1718 he was appointed Secretary at War. He was returned again at the 1722. In 1724, Walpole wanted to give post of Secretary of War to Pelham, and got rid of Treby in 1724 making him Teller of the Exchequer. At the accession of King George, Treby was deprived of his post in the Tellership, and at the 1727 British general election, he was returned as MP for Dartmouth. He was appointed Master of the Household in 1730 and held the post until 1740. He was returned unopposed for Dartmouth at the 1734 British general election when he was election manager for several other Devon constituencies. In 1740 he became a Lord of the Treasury. He was returned again at the 1741 British general election but was turned out of his post on the fall of Walpole in February 1742.

In about 1715 to 1720 he completed building Plympton House, the grand new country residence begun by his father.

Marriage and progeny

Treby married Charity Hele at St James, Westminster. She was the daughter and co-heiress of Roger Hele of Holwell, in the parish of Newton Ferrers, Devon. Her sister was Juliana Hele, wife of Peregrine Osborne, 3rd Duke of Leeds (1691–1731). By Charity he had 2 sons and 2 daughters:

George III Treby (c.1726–1761), eldest son and heir, MP for Plympton Erle 1747–1761, died unmarried.

Lt.Col. George Hele Treby (c.1727–1763), 2nd son, MP for Plympton Erle 1761–1763, died unmarried.

Ann(e) Treby, who married Benjamin Hay(e)s in 1756. She was the heiress of Delamore in the parish of Cornwood, which estate had been purchased by her father. She had a son and heir:

Treby Hele Hay(e)s (1764–1837)

Charity Treby, wife of Paul Ourry (1719–1783), MP for Plympton Erle 1763–1775 and from 1775 Commissioner of Plymouth Dockyard. Paul Ourry was the second son of Louis Ourry, a Huguenot refugee from Blois in France who had obtained British citizenship in 1713 and a commission in the British army. A portrait of Paul Ourry by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792), his contemporary and a native of Plympton and friend of the Parker family of Saltram, exists in the collection of Saltram House, Plympton. The following story is related of an ancestress of the Ourry family: Towards the end of the 18th century, Carry Ourry, a great Cornish beauty, and an ancestress of the Trebys of Plympton and Goodamoor, had walked into the Assize Court at Bodmin, when Jekyll, catching sight of her, wrote the following lines and handed them up to the judge:

"My lord, and gemmen of the jury,

I come to prosecute before ye,

A noted felon I'll assure ye,

Known by the name of Carry Ourry,

Known by a guilty pair of eyes,