Peregrine Bertie

Who was Peregrine Bertie?

Peregrine Bertie DL was a British politician, the second son of Robert Bertie, 3rd Earl of Lindsey.

Educated at the Middle Temple in 1679, Bertie first entered the House of Commons in 1685 in Boston, alongside his brother, Lord Willoughby de Eresby, and generally inclined towards the Tories. In 1689, Bertie did not choose to stand, and Sir William Yorke, a Whig, was returned alongside Lord Willoughby. In 1690, when Lord Willoughby was called to the House of Lords by writ of acceleration, Peregrine was returned at the ensuing by-election. However, he now showed leanings towards the Whigs, and solicited his half-uncle's brother-in-law, Hon. Thomas Wharton, to rally Nonconformists on his behalf.

When his younger brother, Norris, died in 1691, he appealed to the King, through his uncle the Marquess of Carmarthen, to obtain Norris' commission as a guidon and major in the 2nd Troop of Horse Guards for himself. Though unsuccessful in this, he was rewarded with a Court appointment in 1692 as Vice-Chamberlain to Queen Mary, after Jack Howe was turned out of office. Despite this, he regularly opposed the administration in Parliament.