George Hayley (1722-1781) was a British merchant, shipowner, whaler and 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. ...

from 1774 to 1781.

Life and career

Hayley was the eldest son of George Hayley and his wife Hannah Hopkins. His initial career was that of cordwainer. By 1767 he was an agent importing whale oil from America. He owned three or four South Sea whaling vessels between 1775 and 1781. He married Mary Storke, who was sister of

John Wilkes John Wilkes (17 October 1725 – 26 December 1797) was an English radical journalist and politician, as well as a magistrate, essayist and soldier. He was first elected a Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlesex election dispute, he fo ...

and widow of Samuel Storke Jr., a merchant of London. Hayley was elected

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

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

at the 1774 general election. He also became an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

in 1774 and was a

sheriff of London Two sheriffs are elected annually for the City of London by the Liverymen of the City livery company, livery companies. Today's sheriffs have only nominal duties, but the historical officeholders had important judicial responsibilities. They have ...

in 1775–6. He was also President of

Lloyd’s of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gove ...

.Clayton & Clayton, p.76. He was returned as MP for the City at the 1780 general election. He was a poor speaker and his main concern was on behalf of merchants trading with America. Hayley died on 30 August 1781.

Life and career

Notes

References

Further reading