BATH, THOMAS THYNNE, 1ST MARQUESS OF, VISCOUNT ...

born Sept. 13, 1734 died Nov. 19, 1796, London, Eng. politician who, as 3rd Viscount Weymouth, held important office in the British government during two critical periods in the reign of George III. Although he was an outstanding orator, his dissolute habits (gambling and heavy drinking), indolence, and secretiveness concerning his official policies prevented him from realizing his potential as a statesman. Appointed viceroy of Ireland in June 1765, Weymouth resigned two months later. In his first term as secretary of state for the southern department (1768-70), he had to maintain public order during the riots protesting the imprisonment of John Wilkes, politician and advocate of freedom of the press. For approving the use of troops leading to a massacre at St. George's Fields (May 10, 1768), he became extremely unpopular and was denounced by Wilkes himself and by the pseudonymous journalist "Junius." After four more years (1775-79) as secretary of state for the southern department, he retired because he opposed Prime Minister Lord North's Irish policy and Britain's role in the American Revolution. He was created marquess in 1789. Bath's estate, Longleat, in Wiltshire, is a major work of the landscape gardener Lancelot ("Capability") Brown.