Gabriel Hanger, 1st Baron Coleraine

Gabriel Hanger, 1st Baron Coleraine (9 January 1697 – 24 January 1773) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1753 and 1768. He was honoured with an Irish peerage.
Hanger was the son of Sir George Hanger of Driffield, Gloucestershire and his wife Ann Beale daughter of Sir John Beale of Farningham in Kent. His father, grandson of Sir Lewis Roberts, was knighted by William III "for his steady attachment to religion and the law."
Hanger inherited the estates at Driffield and also inherited via his brother his mother's estate at Farningham. In 1750 he was responsible for converting the church at Driffield into the Italianate style.
On 26 February 1762 he was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron Coleraine. Hanger's uncle, John Hanger, was governor of the Bank of England 1719-1721 and his daughter, Anne, had married Henry (Henry Hare) 3rd and last Lord Coleraine. The peerage was extinct on cousin (by marriage) Henry's death without a legitimate heir in 1749 and its name was revived in 1762 for Gabriel Hanger.
Hanger sat as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidstone between 1753 and 1761. As his peerage was Irish he was able to continue to sit in the house of commons and was MP for Bridgwater between 1763 and 1768. He was described by his son as "one of those respectable, independent old English characters in the House of Commons called County Gentlemen".
Lord Coleraine died at Bray, Berkshire at the age of 73 and was buried at Driffield.
Hanger married Elizabeth Bond, daughter and heir of Richard Bond, of Hereford at Driffield in 1753. There were seven children which included three surviving sons John, William and George. George wrote a piece of doggerel
Three pretty boys did Gabriel get,
The youngest George by name, Sir
A funny dog, not favoured much
By fortune or by fame, Sir.

^ a b c Parishes: Farningham, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 2 (1797), pp. 510-526. Date accessed: 19 October 2010
^ a b c d Fred S Thacker The Stripling Thames 1909
^ http://www.leighrayment.com/peers/peersC5.htm
^ http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Bcommons5.htm
^ Trove - A Sermon Preached at Driffield