John Berkeley

John Berkeley, 4th Viscount Fitzhardinge of Bruton, Somerset (1650 – 19 December 1712) was an English courtier, treasury official, army officer and politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1690 to 1710.

Early life Berkeley was the second surviving son of Charles Berkeley, 2nd Viscount Fitzhardinge and his wife Penelope Godolphin, daughter of Sir William Godolphin, MP, of Godolphin, Cornwall. His father and brothers were active in the Royal service after the Restoration, and Berkeley himself was a Page of Honour to King Charles II from 1668 to 1672. His brother Charles was granted the Irish peerage of Lord Fitzhardinge, which passed to his father and thence to John's elder brother Maurice.

Career Berkeley joined the Army in 1673 as an ensign in Lord Le Power's Foot. He became a captain in the 1st Foot Guards in 1675 and a lieutenant-colonel in Colonel Edward Villiers’ Foot in 1678. He was Master of Horse to Princess Anne from 1685 to 1702. He fought at the Battle of Sedgemoor in 1685 and was made colonel of his own regiment of Dragoons (later the 4th Queen's Own Hussars) from 1685 to 1688 and from 1688 to 1693. He was promoted brigadier-general in 1690. He sometime married Barbara, the daughter of Sir Edward Villiers, Knight Marshal of the Royal Household. Hon. Mary Berkeley (bef. 1671 – 3 June 1741), married Walter Chetwynd, 1st Viscount Chetwynd of Bearhaven on 27 May 1703 in St. Martin-in-the-Fields in Westminster. She was a maid of honor to Queen Anne. No issue. Without a male heir, his title became extinct.