Berkeley, George (1601 -1658)

George Berkeley was the only surviving son of Sir Thomas Berkeley (1575-1611) and Elizabeth Carey, daughter and sole heir of George Carey, 2nd Baron Hunsdon.  He succeeded to his titles of Baron Berkeley of Berkeley, Mowbray, Segrave, & Breuse of Gower, on the death of his grandfather, Henry Berkeley, 7th Baron Berkeley, on 26 November 1613. He was made a Knight of the Order of the Bath on November 4, 1616, when Prince Charles became Prince of Wales, on the death of Prince Henry. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, receiving his M.A. degree in 1623. During his time at Oxford he grew into a prominent literary patron. At Oxford George was friendly with the King's Men, successors to the Lord Chamberlain’s Men.  John Webster dedicated The Duchess of Malfi to him in hope of future patronage, and Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy was also dedicated to him.

During the civil wars Berkeley sided with the royalists, and his ancestral home, Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, was regularly plundered by the parliamentarians. At this time he fulfilled several minor government posts. 

On 13 April 1614 at the age of 13, Berkeley married Elizabeth Stanhope, aged 9, the second daughter and coheir of Sir Michael Stanhope of Sudbourne, Suffolk, by Anne Reade (b. 1604), the daughter of Sir William Reade of Osterley, Middlesex. They had two sons and a daughter. The elder son, Charles, drowned in the English Channel in 1642. George’s titles were inherited by his second son, also named George, who became the 9^thBaron, and was later made Earl of Berkeley.

His armorial stamp is identical to that of his sister, Theophyla Coke (Berkeley), who married Sir Robert Coke, son of Sir Edward Coke, Lord Chief Justice, and Bridget Paston.