Sir Henry Hobart, 4th Baronet (1657–1698) was an English Whig politician and baronet. Family Henry Hobart was the eldest son to Sir John Hobart, 3rd Baronet and his first wife Mary Hampden, daughter to John Hampden. He was knighted at Blickling by King Charles II of England in 1671 and succeeded his father as baronet in 1683. Hobart was educated at St John's College, Cambridge. On 9 July 1684, he married Elizabeth Maynard, eldest daughter to Sir Joseph Maynard, and had by her a son and three daughters. His eldest daughter Henrietta was a mistress of King George II of Great Britain. The second daughter Catherine married Lieutenant-General Charles Churchill. Lady Hobart died in 1701. Hobart was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son John, later raised to the peerage as Earl of Buckinghamshire. Career Henry Hobart was Gentleman of the Horse to King William III of England and fought under him in the Battle of the Boyne, and a year later was appointed Vice-Admiral of Norfolk. Hobart was a Member of parliament for King's Lynn in the English House of Commons between 1681 and 1685. He represented Thetford from January to February 1689 and subsequently Norfolk until 1690. In 1694, he was elected for Bere Alston, a seat he held until the following year, when he was returned again for Norfolk until the July–August 1698 election, which he fought and lost. Death On 20 August, after the 1698 election, Hobart fought a duel with Oliver Le Neve on Cawston Heath, and was mortally wounded. Le Neve of Witchingham Hall, Great Witchingham, fought left-handed and was wounded in the arm by Hobart who had a reputation as a good swordsman. However, Le Neve struck back and injured his opponent so badly that he died the next day at Blickling. As there were no seconds or witnesses, the duel was illegal. Le Neve fled to Holland but returned to England two years later, when he was tried and acquitted. Hobart was buried in the Blickling family vault. A plinth with an urn, called the Duel Stone, which commemorates the duel, stands in a National Trust plot on Norwich Road in Cawston. References |- 1650s births 1698 deaths Year of birth uncertain Baronets in the Baronetage of England Duelling fatalities English admirals Williamite military personnel of the Williamite War in Ireland Henry English MPs 1681 English MPs 1689–1690 English MPs 1690–1695 English