Alexander Pendarves

Alexander Pendarves, MP (baptised 11 November 1662 – 13 March 1725) was a Cornish landowner and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1689 and 1725. He had two brothers, Rev. John Pendarves (born 1682), Rector of Drewsteignton, and William (died 1693).

He graduated from Exeter College, Oxford in 1682 and was called to Bar of Gray's Inn in the same year.

Career Pendarves was a wealthy landowner. He served as Director of Land-Bank in 1696, In 1721, he was returned as MP for Launceston, which he held until his death.

Personal life He first married Lady Dorothy Bourke, daughter of Richard Burke, 8th Earl of Clanricarde.

He married, secondly, to Mary (1700–1788), daughter of Bernard Granville (died 1723). Her uncle, Bernard's brother, was George Granville, 1st Baron Lansdowne. Mary was introduced to Pendarves while visiting Lord Lansdowne in December 1717. Shortly thereafter, in February 1718, at the age of 17, she married Pendarves, age 60, a marriage brought on by her parents' financial dependence on Lord Lansdowne, and Lord Lansdowne's hope to have political influence through the nuptials. Lord Lansdowne was of the mindset that should Mary outlive her spouse, the estate she would inherit would repay her for years of misery. As Pendarves had not changed his will to accommodate his wife Mary, she was left a poor widow. In later years, however, the Bluestocking artist and writer became notable for her "paper-mosaicks".