from a scaffold; hence he attracted the notice of the earl, who employed him as draughtsman on the edition of Inigo Jones's designs, published by Kent in 1727 at the Earl of Burlington's expense; some of these drawings are in the library of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Burlington's patronage insured Flitcroft's success, and even gained the architect the nickname of ‘Burlington Harry.’ In 1726 Flitcroft was employed in the office of the board of works; he continued to be engaged as clerk of the works at Whitehall, St. James's, and Westminster, as well as at Richmond and Kew, until 20 Nov. 1746, when he was appointed master-carpenter; on 10 May 1748 he succeeded Kent as master-mason; and on 10 March 1758 he succeeded Ripley as comptroller of the works in England, which post he held until his death. In 1729 Flitcroft designed a mansion for John Baynes near Havering in Essex; in 1733 he was commissioned to make the necessary alterations in Carlton House, then recently purchased, for Frederick, prince of Wales. In 1731 he entered into a contract to pull down the old church of St. Giles-in-the-Fields and to erect a new church and steeple in its place; the new church was opened in 1734, having been erected at a cost of over 10,000l., exceeding the original estimate by about 3,000l. It is perhaps too closely copied from Gibbs's church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. In 1737–9 Flitcroft was employed in erecting the church of St. Olave, Tooley Street, Southwark, which was completed at a cost of 5,000l. About 1745 he designed the church of St. John at Hampstead. Flitcroft made considerable alterations in Wentworth House, Yorkshire, for the Marquis of Rockingham, and in Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, for the Duke of Bedford; in 1747 he designed for Mary Lepel, lady Hervey, a house in St. James's Place, looking on the Green Park, afterwards occupied by the Earl of Moira; and in 1749 he rebuilt the church at Wimpole in Cambridgeshire. Flitcroft's general repute led to his being elected sheriff of London and Middlesex in June 1745, but he paid the fine to be excused serving the office; in 1747 he paid a similar fine on being elected renter warden of the Joiners' Company. He built for himself a house at Frognal, Hampstead, called Montagu Grove, where he resided for some time. He died on 25 Feb. 1769, in his seventy-second year, and was buried at Teddington in Middlesex. In the Royal Library at the British Museum there is a volume of architectural drawings and designs by Flitcroft, executed about 1750, and dedicated to William, duke of Cumberland.
[The Dictionary of Architecture; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Cunningham's Handbook to London.]
FLOOD, Sir FREDERICK (1741–1824), Irish politician, was the younger son of John Flood of Farmley, county Kilkenny, and nephew of Warden Flood, chief justice of the court of king's bench in Ireland, the father of the Right Hon. Henry Flood [q. v.] He was born in 1741, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he proceeded B.A. in 1761, M.A. in 1764, LL.B. in 1766, and LL.D. in 1772. He was called to the Irish bar in 1763, soon attained considerable legal practice, and in the social circles of Dublin was immensely popular from his wit and oddity. He succeeded to handsome estates from both his parents, and in 1776 was elected to the Irish House of Commons as member for Enniscorthy. He sat for that constituency till 1783. From 1783 to 1790 he was M.P. for Ardfert, and in 1796–7 for Carlow borough. His relationship to Henry Flood did more for his reputation then his own abilities, and he consistently followed in his cousin's footsteps. In 1778 he was made a K.C. and elected a bencher of the King's Inns, and on 3 June 1780 he was created a baronet of Ireland ‘of Newton Ormonde, co. Kilkenny, and Banna Lodge, co. Wexford.’ Two years later he married Lady Juliana Annesley, daughter of the fifth Earl of Anglesey, and he took a prominent part in the volunteer movement, being elected colonel of the Wexford regiment. In many debates which preceded the abolition of the Irish parliament Flood was a frequent speaker. Sir Jonah Barrington calls him an ostentatious blunderer, whose ‘bulls’ did not contain the pith of sound sense which underlay the mistakes of Sir Boyle Roche. He adds that Flood would rashly accept any suggestions made to him while speaking, and one day, just after he had declared ‘that the magistrates of Wexford deserved the thanks of the lord-lieutenant,’ he added, on some wit's suggestion, ‘and should be whipped at the cart's tail’ (Barrington, Personal Sketches, i. 111). He steadily opposed the Act of Union, but when that measure was carried he did not retire from politics, but sat in the united House of Commons for the county of Wexford from 1812 to 1818. He made no particular impression there. His only son died unmarried in 1800, and it was proposed to perpetuate Flood's title by creating him a baronet of the United Kingdom, with remainder to his only daughter Frances, who was married to Richard Solly, esq. He died before the patent for this new honour had passed the great seal
