Henry Worsley

Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Worsley (1672 – 15 March 1740), of Compton, Hampshire, was an English Army officer, diplomat and politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1705 to 1715, initially as a Whig, and later as a Tory. He was ambassador to Portugal from 1714 to 1722 and Governor of Barbados from 1722 to 1731. Early life Worsley was the second son of Sir Robert Worsley, 3rd Baronet, of Appuldurcombe, Isle of Wight and his wife Mary Herbert, daughter of Hon. James Herbert, MP of Kingsey, Buckinghamshire. He was admitted at Lincoln's Inn on 30 April 1690 and matriculated at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford on 14 August 1690. Army career Worsley joined the Army as an ensign in Colonel William Beveridge's Regiment of Foot (later the 14th Regiment of Foot) in 1689, becoming a lieutenant in 1693, and seeing action in Scotland and Flanders, where he was present at the battles of Landen and Namur. He transferred to become a captain in Colonel Francis Fergus O’Farrell’s Foot Regiment (later the 21st Foot) in 1693 and then as a captain-lieutenant in the 1st Foot Guards in 1700, rising in turn to captain and lieutenant-colonel between 1702 and 1708. Political and diplomatic career Worsley was returned unopposed as a Whig Member of Parliament for Newtown, Isle of Wight on the interest of his brother, Sir Robert Worsley, 4th Baronet, at the 1705 English general election. He voted for the Court candidate as Speaker on 25 October 1705. He was not an active Member being a serving officer, but with other members of the family in the House, most of his contributions can not be identified. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on 30 November 1705.