and Custos Rotulorum of Surrey, which he held until his death. In 1714, besides his restoration to his offices in Gloucestershire, he was made a Lord of the Bedchamber. He married Lady Louisa Lennox (24 December 1694 – 15 January 1716), daughter of Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond and Anne Brudenell, on 13 February 1711. They had two children, his wife dying in childbirth: - Lt. Col. Augustus Berkeley, 4th Earl of Berkeley (b. 18 February 1715) - Lady Elizabeth Berkeley (b. 15 January 1716) On 16 May 1717, he was made First Lord of the Admiralty, He also became Vice-Admiral of Great Britain (a civil position with no executive command) and a member of the Privy Council. On 31 March 1718, he was created a Knight of the Garter. He held the supreme post in the Admiralty Board for over a decade, before being dismissed as First Lord of the Admiralty on 2 August 1727, for opposing Sir Robert Walpole, and also left his office as Lord of the Bedchamber at this time. In 1719 he was one of main subscribers in the Royal Academy of Music (1719), a corporation that produced baroque opera on stage. He died on 17 August 1736 at the , near Coincy, France, and was buried on 31 October 1736 at Berkeley, Gloucestershire. He was succeeded by his son Augustus Berkeley, 4th Earl of Berkeley. His daughter Elizabeth ran away at a very young age and married Anthony Henley in 1728. Lord Hervey wrote "he was a man of great family and great quality, rough, proud, hard, and obstinate, with excellent good natural parts, but so uncultivated that he was totally ignorant of every branch of knowledge but his profession. He was haughty and tyrannical, but honourable, gallant, observant of his word; equally incapable of flattering a prince, bending to a minister, or lying to anybody he had to deal with." References Ships of the RN |- 1679 births Year of birth uncertain 1736 deaths 103 Knights of the Garter Lord-Lieutenants of Gloucestershire Lords of the Admiralty Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain Royal Navy vice admirals James Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Gloucester English MPs 1701–1702 Members of the Kit-Kat Club