Sir William Earle Welby, 1st Baronet

[2] The younger Welby was educated first at Eton School, before being admitted to Clare College, Cambridge, in 1753 and then at the Middle Temple in 1756.

[20] The next twenty years of his life were not spent in public office, though, as a Lord of the Manor, he would have been concerned with the management of his estates.

After his first wife's death in 1777, Welby remarried to an heiress, supplementing his wealth; indeed, he was able to send all of his sons from that marriage to Cambridge University.

[24] His entry into the House came in 1802, when the Duke of Rutland and Lord Brownlow, who were the principal land-owners around Grantham, were resisting attempts by Sir William Manners, Bt., to purchase the borough and establish himself as its Member of Parliament.

Although Welby claimed to stand independent of any patronage, he essentially represented the gentlemen of the borough opposed to Manners and was thus supported by Rutland and Brownlow.