Page 36 - Francis Cotes - A winning end-game
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the house contents were sold, the lease being daughter.14 His oldest son William, and later
taken over by another artist, George Romney. his grandson, both followed him as a Grantham
MP. The alert and active young man in the
Sadly, the happiness of the young couple did portrait died, aged 82, in 1815, on 6 November,
not last for long either. A year after Cotes, in the anniversary date of his first marriage. But
1771, the glamorous, lively Penelope Welby although that marriage was short, the portrait of
died, possibly following the birth of a daughter. William and Penelope remained in the family
Two years later, in March 1773, William house, as a reminder for many generations of a
shocked his friends and neighbours by marrying moment of pure happiness and zest, a brilliant
Elizabeth Williamson, of nearby Allington young couple caught up in their own ‘game of
Hall: in the years to come they would have five kings’.
sons and four daughters.13 William became lord
of the manner of Denton after his father died in JENNY UGLOW
1792, and in 1801 was made a baronet. He
represented Grantham as an MP during the 13. Lincolnshire Archives, Marriage settlement,
Napoleonic Wars, from 1802- 6, although he LD24/2/2/A/1/2, 4 March 1773
made little impact in parliament, and was teased
as ‘unaccustomed to business’ and ‘ruled’ by his 14. ‘William Earle Welby’, R.G. Thorne (ed) History of
second wife, said –unfairly - to be a blacksmith’s Parliament: The House of Commons 1790-1820 (1986): Also
www. historyofparliamentonline. org
s
36
