George Savile Politician

• Gender: Male
• Born: Jul 18, 1726
• Died: Jan 10, 1784

Sir George Savile, 8th Baronet (18 July 1726 - 10 January 1784) was an English politician.

Savile was born in Savile House, London, the only son of Sir George Savile, 7th Baronet and Lady Savile (born Mary Pratt, later married to Charles Morton), of Rufford Abbey, Nottinghamshire and inherited his baronetcy on the death of his father in 1743.

He entered the House of Commons as member for Yorkshire in 1759. In general he advocated views of a very liberal character, including measures of relief to Roman Catholics and to Protestant dissenters, and he defended the action of the American colonists. He introduced the Catholic Relief Act, leading to the Gordon Riots in 1780. He refused to take office and in 1783 he resigned his seat in parliament. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in December 1747.

Savile died unmarried in London and was buried in the family vault at Thornhill, Yorkshire. Horace Walpole said Savile had a large fortune and a larger mind, and Edmund Burke also had a high opinion of him.

Rufford and some of his other estates were bequeathed to his nephew, Richard Lumley (1757 - 1832), a younger son of Richard Lumley-Saunderson, 4th Earl of Scarbrough (1725 - 1752).