Corbet Kynaston (28 January 1690 – 17 June 1740), of Hordley,

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

, was an English

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

between 1714 and 1740. His Jacobite sympathies resulted in his fleeing abroad to avoid arrest.

Early life

Kynaston was the eldest son of John Kynaston and his first wife Beatrice Corbet (died 1703), daughter of Sir Vincent Corbet, 2nd Baronet, of

Moreton Corbet Moreton Corbet is a village in the Civil parishes in England, civil parish of Moreton Corbet and Lee Brockhurst in Shropshire, England. The village's Toponymy, toponym refers to the Corbet baronets, the local landowners. It is just north of th ...

. He was admitted at

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1720. In 1710, Kynaston was one of the leading figures in the procession which accompanied Dr Sacheverell into Shrewsbury. At about the same time he inherited, through his mother, various estates in Shropshire.

Political career

At the

1713 British general election The 1713 British general election produced further gains for the governing Tory party. Since 1710 Robert Harley had led a government appointed after the downfall of the Whig Junto, attempting to pursue a moderate and non-controversial policy, b ...

he stood for

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

, with the support of his father, who headed a strong Tory interest in the borough. He lost the poll in a close contest but petitioned and on 14 March 1714 he was returned as Tory

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

. He is not recorded as having spoken in this Parliament, and was not an active participant. Kynaston was returned unopposed as MP for Shrewsbury at the

1715 British general election The 1715 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 5th Parliament of Great Britain to be held, after the 1707 merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. In October 1714, soon afte ...

. In September 1715 he was one of six MPs ordered to be arrested on a charge of having been involved in a plot related to a Jacobite invasion attempt. He left the country, leaving 12 pictures of the Duke of Ormonde at his country home, after distributing a large number of them ‘to spirit up the mob to revenge their idol.’ He eventually surrendered himself on 9 January 1716, and was released soon afterwards. He was a consistent opponent of the Whig administration, voting against them in all recorded divisions, and still took part in Jacobite intrigues. He was re-elected at the

1722 British general election The 1722 British general election elected members to serve in the House of Commons of the 6th Parliament of Great Britain. This was the fifth such election since the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. Tha ...

but was unseated on petition on 9 April 1723. He stood for Shrewsbury again in 1727 when he was defeated by Sir John Astley, a fellow Tory who had been awarded £24,000 damages against him in a lawsuit over transactions in South Sea stock. He went to France to avoid paying, and remained there until his father's death in 1733 when he came to terms with Astley. He was returned with Astley as MP for

in 1734, and continued voting against the Government. He was mayor of

Oswestry Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads. The town was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...

in 1739, dying in office.

Death and legacy

Kynaston died unmarried on 17 June 1740, aged 50, at Shelvock,

Ruyton-XI-Towns Ruyton-XI-Towns ( "ry-tən eleven towns"), formally Ruyton of the Eleven Towns or simply Ruyton, is a village and civil parish next to the River Perry in Shropshire, England. It had a population of 1,379 at the 2011 Census. The preparatory schoo ...

, Shropshire, and was buried on 21 June at Moreton Corbet. His estates went to his half-brother

Edward Kynaston Edward Kynaston may refer to: *Edward Kynaston (actor) (c. 1640–1712), English actor *Edward Kynaston (1709–1772) Edward Kynaston (6 October 1709–1772), of Garth and Bryngwyn, Montgomeryshire and Hardwick, Shropshire, was a British landow ...

. Corbet left debts of between £70-80,000, suits from his creditors leading to an Act of Parliament being passed to enable his estates to be sold. His Shrewsbury town mansion, Broom Hall, was acquired for conversion into the Salop Infirmary hospital founded in 1745.It erroneously states a Mrs Kynaston who possessed the house was Corbet's wife.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kynaston, Corbet 1690 births 1740 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1710–1713 British MPs 1713–1715 British MPs 1715–1722 British MPs 1722–1727 British MPs 1734–1741