5. Bessborough and Grantham became joint postmasters general in the Rockingham ministry, July 12, 1765. London Chron., July 18–20, reported that on Friday, the 19th, they had held their first board at the Post Office and that they and their predecessors had dined together at a tavern in Cornhill. On Bessborough, see above, IX, 118 n. Sir Thomas Robinson, 1st Baron Grantham (1695–1770), had a long diplomatic career, served as secretary of state, 1754–55, and was joint postmaster general until December 1766. DNB; Namier and Brooke, House of Commons, III, 366–7.