Sir Matthew Fetherstonhaugh, 1st Baronet

Who was Sir Matthew Fetherstonhaugh, 1st Baronet?

Sir Matthew Fetherstonhaugh, 1st Baronet FRS pronounced "featherstonehaw" was an English politician and landowner.

He was the son of Matthew Fetherstonhaugh of Featherstone Castle, Northumberland. In 1746 he inherited the estates of a kinsman Sir Henry Fetherston but not Sir Henry's baronetcy which became extinct on his death. However on 3 January 1747 Fetherstonhaugh was created a baronet, of Featherstonehaugh in the County of Northumberland, in the Baronetage of Great Britain.

On his marriage to Sarah Lethieullier he bought Uppark, Sussex and the manors of East And West Harting and in 1747 sold the family estate at Featherstone to James Wallace.

He served as a Member of Parliament for Morpeth from 1755 to 1761 and for Portsmouth from 1762 to 1774.

In the 1750s he commissioned architect James Paine to design and build Dover House, Whitehall, London.

He was succeeded by his son Henry.