ABSTRACT
This chapter will look at the earl of Arlington’s dynastic legacy – namely the early history of the dukes of Grafton from the pre-contract between Isabella and the future 1st duke in 1672 to the death of the 2nd duke in 1757. Isabella’s first husband pursued a military career and died a national hero. This left Isabella a widow in her twenties and she remarried Sir Thomas Hanmer, a Tory politician. Hanmer controlled the Arlington political interest centred on Euston Hall, which caused friction with Isabella’s son, the 2nd duke of Grafton, a staunch Whig. Arlington’s political genes flowed through the 2nd duke of Grafton. Grafton was a leading Whig, member of the Kit-Cat Club and an ally of Walpole. The duke of Grafton served as lord chamberlain for over thirty years – an office also held by his grandfather, the earl of Arlington, who became a near permanent fixture of Charles II’s court. In turn, Grafton, as a close friend of George II, became a near permanent fixture of the early Hanoverian court. Derided by some contemporaries as a fool, others recognized a shrewd courtier under the affable ducal exterior. It was a quality that kept Grafton at the heart of the Whig Ascendancy over a forty-year career at the centre of political and courtly life.
