William Grimston, 1st Viscount Grimston

[1] His fortunes at the constituency were affected by the competitive ambitions of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough who also had an interest.

In 1719 he was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron Dunboyne and Viscount Grimston.

As these were Irish peerages they did not prohibit Grimston from sitting in the British House of Commons.

His feud with the duchess continued until her death as they each tried to prevent the return of each other's candidates at St Albans in subsequent elections.

Although Grimston had tried to suppress all copies of his play, in 1736 the Duchess published a version of it with disparaging notes to mock him.