BERKELEY, GEORGE (1693?–1746), politician, born in or about 1693, was the fourth and youngest son of Charles, second earl of Berkeley. He was admitted to Westminster School on the foundation in 1708, and thence was elected to a scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1711, where he graduated M.A. in 1713. He was elected in 1718 M.P. for Dover, which constituency he continued to represent in the two following parliaments. He sat for Hey don, Yorkshire, from the beginning of the parliament of 1734 until his death. He voted against the measures of Sir Robert Walpole. On 28 May 1723 he was appointed master-keeper and governor of St. Katharine's, near the Tower. He died on 29 Oct. 1746.
Late in life he married Henrietta, daughter of Sir Henry Hobart, and widow of Henry Howard, ninth earl of Suffolk. This lady was celebrated for her intimacy with George II. Her marriage with Berkeley took place about July 1735, some nine months after her rupture with the king, and their union was the subject of much merriment among the courtiers of that day. Lord Hervey (Memoirs, ii. 10-13) says: 'Mr. Berkeley was neither young, handsome, healthy, nor rich, which made people wonder what induced Lady Suffolk's prudence to deviate into this unaccountable piece of folly: some imagined it was to persuade the world that nothing criminal had ever passed between her and the king, others that it was to pique the king. If this was her reason, she succeeded very ill in her design.' Berkeley seems to have been very gouty, but his age did not exceed forty-two at this time; and his sister, Lady Betty Germaine, in announcing the match to Dean Swift on 12 July 1735, remarks: 'She is indeed four or five years older than he; but for all that he has appeared to all the world, as well as to me, to have long had (that is, ever since she has been a widow, so pray do not mistake me) a most violent passion for her, as well as esteem and value for her numberless good qualities.'
[Walpole's George II, i. 154, 512; Swift's Works (Scott), 2nd ed. xviii. 347, 348, 359, 496; Welch's Alumni Westmon. (Phillimore), 250, 255, 257, 533, 544.]
BERKELEY, GEORGE (1685–1753), bishop of Cloyne, was born on 12 March 1684-5 at 'Kilcrin,' or 'Killerin' according to his early biographers, or, as Professor Fraser thinks, at Dysert Castle, near Thomastown, in the county of Kilkenny. His father, William Berkeley, had some indefinite kinship to Lord Berkeley of Stratton, lord-lieutenant from 1670 to 1672. It is said that he went to Ireland in Lord Berkeley's suite, and that he or his father obtained a collectorship at Belfast in reward for loyalty to Charles I. The name of Berkeley's mother is unknown. She is said to have been great-aunt to the famous General Wolfe. Berkeley always considered himself an Englishman, and regarded the native Irish as foreigners (Querist, 91, 92, and Cave of Dunmore). He was entered at Kilkenny school on 17 July 1696, and placed in the second class, a proof of unusual precocity. One of his school-fellows, Thomas Prior, became his lifelong friend and correspondent. On 21 March 1700 he matriculated at Trinity College, Dublin, was scholar in 1702, B.A. 1704, M.A. 1707. On 9 June 1707 he was admitted to a fellowship after an examination passed with great distinction. The only anecdote of his college days tells us that Berkeley once went to see a man hanged. On his return he induced his friend Contarini, Goldsmith's uncle, to hang him experimentally. He was cut down when nearly senseless, and exclaimed, 'Bless my heart, Contarini, you have rumpled my band!' (Annual Register, 1763). His curiosity had borne better fruits. The philosophy of Locke had been introduced by Molyneux into Dublin, where the old scholasticism still lingered. The writings of Hobbes, Malebranche, Descartes, Leibnitz, and Newton were studied in connection with Locke's doctrine. In 1705 Berkeley with a few friends, formed a society for the discussion of the 'new philosophy.' A common-place book, first printed in the Clarendon Press edition of Berkeley's works (1871), shows that he was keenly interested in many of the questions raised by Locke's Essay, and that he conceived himself to have discovered a 'new principle' of great importance. It was set forth in three works soon afterwards published. His 'Essay towards a New Theory of Vision' appeared in 1709, and a 'Treatise concerning the Principles of Human Know-
