Charles Brett (MP)

Charles Brett (c. 1715 – 10 February 1799) was a British Member of Parliament.

Coming from a naval family, Brett was at first a naval officer, and in 1755 was in charge of Portsmouth dockyard. After inheriting property on his marriage to Elizabeth Hooker, granddaughter and heir of Sir William Hooker in 1753, he retired from the navy and eventually went into politics.

A follower of Lord Howe, he was Paymaster of the Navy from 1766 to 1770, and he entered Parliament in 1768 as member for Lostwithiel. He resigned that seat in 1776, being immediately returned instead as the government-sponsored MP for Sandwich, a constituency with a strong naval connection, but from 1777 he voted consistently with the opposition, and in 1780 lost his seat when defeated by two government-backed candidates.

After the fall of Lord North's government in 1782, Brett was appointed a Lord of the Admiralty, and returned to the Commons as the Rockingham government's candidate at Dartmouth (another constituency with strong links with the navy). He was a Lord of the Admiralty from April 1782 to April 1783, leaving office on the fall of Shelburne's administration, and once again under William Pitt the Younger from December 1783 until 1788.

References

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
Viscount Beauchamp
James Edward Colleton
Member of Parliament for Lostwithiel
with Sir Henry Cavendish 1768-1774
Viscount Fairford 1774-1776

1768–1776
Succeeded by
Viscount Fairford
Thomas Potter
Preceded by
Philip Stephens
William Hey
Member of Parliament for Sandwich
with Philip Stephens

1776–1780
Succeeded by
Philip Stephens
Sir Richard Sutton
Preceded by
Arthur Holdsworth
The Viscount Howe
Member of Parliament for Dartmouth
with Arthur Holdsworth

1782–1784
Succeeded by
Arthur Holdsworth
Richard Hopkins
Preceded by
Philip Stephens
Sir Richard Sutton
Member of Parliament for Sandwich
with Philip Stephens

1784–1790
Succeeded by
Philip Stephens
Sir Horatio Mann