Charles Bertie (senior) - Secretary of The Treasury

Secretary of The Treasury

In 1673, Bertie's brother-in-law, the then Viscount Latimer, was appointed Lord High Treasurer, providing Bertie with a new route for advancement. He was appointed Secretary to the Treasury and served as his brother-in-law's administrator there until 1679. He also purchased an estate at Uffington, Lincolnshire in 1673, and in the following year married Mary (d. 13 January 1679), daughter of Peter Tryon and widow of Sir Samuel Jones, by whom he had two children:

• Charles Bertie (aft. 1674–1730)
• Elizabeth Bertie (24 July 1675 – 20 December 1730), married on 8 June 1693 Charles Mildmay, 18th Baron FitzWalter

Bertie was eager to secure additional treasury offices, and obtained a reversion to the office of Treasurer of the Ordnance in 1675 and to the office of Auditor of the Receipt of the Exchequer the following year. He also attempted to enter the House of Commons at a by-election at Grimsby in April 1675, but was defeated. However, in February 1678, he was returned for Stamford in another by-election.

Storm clouds had, however, begun to gather around his brother-in-law and patron, now Earl of Danby. As Lord High Treasurer, Danby, though personally anti-French, had been deeply involved in Charles II's collection of a subsidy from Louis XIV, in exchange for English neutrality. With the rupture of Anglo-French relations in 1678, Louis, through the agency of the disaffected Ralph Montagu, attempted by releasing several of his letters to make Danby the scapegoat for the policy. Bertie opposed Danby's impeachment, but to no avail, and his support for Danby cost him his seat in January 1679. Bertie himself became embroiled in the controversy over the distribution of secret service money, and in May, upon refusing to testify without the King's command, was placed in the custody of the Serjeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons, where he remained until Parliament was dissolved in July.