George Oxenden (1694-1775), 5th Baronet, was MP for Sandwich in Kent from 1720-1754. He was a Lord of the Admiralty and Lord of the Treasury. He inherited the estate of his uncle, Sir Basil Dixwell that had originally been left to his younger brother, who died at the age of 29. He married Elizabeth Dunch, daughter of Edmund Dunch of Little Wittenham in Berkshire, and sister of the Duchess of Manchester. They had three sons and two daughters, but only the eldest son, Henry Oxenden, survived and succeeded to the baronetcy. He owned the manor of Dene in Barham Down in Kent. George Oxenden led a scandalous life, and was believed to have fathered a number of illegitimate children, including one with the estranged wife of Sir Robert Walpole, and two with his wife’s sister, the wife of his friend Edward Thomson. In 1737 he was dismissed from his post as MP, but was re-elected in 1741. In 1732 it was reported that his town and country houses had been seized for debt, prompting Lord Egmont to call him “a proud, conceited, lewd man”. John Hervey said “he was a very vicious, ungrateful, good-for-nothing fellow. He passed his whole life in all manner of debauchery and with low company”. In 1754 Oxenden bargained with the Duke of Newcastle for a position for his son Henry that would bring him £500 a year, in return for giving up his position as MP for Sandwich. He duly resigned, but his son did not receive the hoped-for sinecure.