Giles Earle

Who was Giles Earle?

Giles Earle, was an English politician and wit.

Earle came from a family resident at Crudwell, near Malmesbury. He served in early life in the army, attaining to the rank of colonel, and was attached to John, the second duke of Argyll, who was distinguished both in war and in politics. This connection had lasted in 1716 for twenty years, and was so marked that Sir Robert Walpole, in a letter written in that year, styles him ‘the Duke of Argyll's Erle.’ On the accession of George I he plunged into political life, and in that king's first parliament sat for Chippenham.

At the general election of 1722 he succeeded on petition in establishing his right to represent the electors of Malmesbury, and he held the seat until 1747, when he was rejected and his parliamentary career terminated. Through his intimacy with the Duke of Argyll, who was Groom of the Stole to the Prince of Wales, he exerted himself very actively in the autumn of 1716 in promoting addresses of congratulation from Gloucestershire and the adjacent counties to the prince on his success as regent during the absence of George I in Hanover. For his services in such matters Earle was rewarded in 1718 with the post of groom of the prince's bedchamber; but he resigned this position in 1720, when public differences broke out between the prince and his father.