BATH, WILLIAM PULTENEY, 1ST EARL OF (1684 1764), English politician, was a member of an old Leicestershire family, and was educated at Westminster School and at Christ Church, Oxford. He obtained, by patronage, a seat in Parliament for Hedon, Yorkshire, which he held continuously from from 1734-42 he sat for Middlesex. During the reign of Queen Anne he was a prominent Whig, and a friend of Robert Walpole. He was secretary for war from 1714-17 in the first ministry of George I., and followed Townshend and Walpole into retirement in the latter year. On Walpole's return to power in 17 21 Pulteney found himself neglected, and had to accept the insignificant posi tion of cofferer of the household. He began to oppose Walpole, and in consequence was dismissed from his sinecure in April 1725. From that day he became a violent opponent of Walpole, join ing the group of malcontents known as the "patriots." With Bol ingbroke he established the Craftsman, in the pages of which Walpole was incessantly denounced. For his "Proper reply to a late scurrilous libel" (in the Craftsman of 1731), he was chal lenged to a duel by Lord Hervey ; for another, published in July 1731, he was struck off the roll of privy councillors and the com mission of the peace. In the House of Commons he was one of the most effective opponents of Walpole. He denounced the appropriation of the sinking fund (1733) and the excise scheme of the same year in brilliant speeches, which had something to do with the withdrawal of the latter measure. On Walpole's defeat in Jan. 1742 Pulteney was entrusted with the formation of the new government, but he contented himself with a peerage and membership of the cabinet, of which Lord Wilmington was the head. Since he had been one of the principal opponents of Wal pole's government, his action in declining responsibility cost him his reputation. He was raised to the peerage in 1742, and next year, on the death of Wilmington, asked the king for the post of first lord of the Treasury, only to find that it had been given to Henry Pelham. He was, indeed, for two days, in Feb. 1746, at the head of a ministry, but his political life was over. He died on July 7 1764.