Lord George Bentinck

Lord George Bentinck (24 December 1715 – 1 March 1759) was a British Army officer and Member of Parliament (MP).

Biography Bentinck was the second son of Henry Bentinck, 1st Duke of Portland, and his wife Lady Elizabeth Noel, daughter of Wriothesley Noel, 2nd Earl of Gainsborough. He was educated at Eton College.

Bentinck was elected at by-election in 1742 as a Member of Parliament for the borough of Droitwich. At the next general election, in 1747, he was elected as an MP for the rotten borough of Grampound. He held that seat until the 1754 general election, when he was elected for the borough of Malmesbury in Wiltshire. He held that seat until his death.

Marriage Lord George lived openly out of wedlock with a woman named Mary Davies of Hanwell for several years. They eventually married at the infamous Keith's Chapel in Westminster on 29 June 1753, at which time she became styled Lady George Bentinck. They were married by Rev. Alexander Keith – who performed clandestine marriages and baptisms – a few months after the passage of the Clandestine Marriages Act 1753, but before it came into force. His choice of wife was unacceptable to his family and they were scorned by his brother, William, Duke of Portland. He died six years later of gout, apparently having no children. He left his widow his fortune.