Humphrey Mackworth 1657-1727

Sir Humphrey or Humphry MACKWORTH 1657-1727

Biographical Note

Born at Little Betton, Shropshire, second son of Thomas Mackworth and Ann (Bulkeley). Matriculated at Magdalen College, Oxford 1674. Admitted to the Middle Temple 1675, where he became a bencher. Married Mary Evans, and resided at Neath, Glamorgan. Made KB in 1683. MP for Cardiganshire and for Totnes at different stages between 1701-13. Mackworth was an industrialist, notable for his developments in coal mining and copper-smelting, as well as for financial fraudulence and pamphleteering. He was one of the initiators of the SPCK and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.

Books

He used an engraved armorial bookplate (Franks 19343).

Example: Angus Library, Regent’s Park College, Oxford: F.P.C.D43 (a variant of the bookplate listed by Franks?).

The content and disposition of his library have not been established.

Sources

• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903-4.
• Griffith, W.P. 'Mackworth, Sir Humphry (1657–1727), industrial entrepreneur and politician.' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.