![Bride and Calcraft](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Bride_and_Calcraft.jpg)
John Calcraft the Elder (1726 – 23 August 1772), of Rempstone in
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
and Ingress in
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, was an English army agent and politician.
Business career
The son of an attorney who was
Town Clerk
A clerk is a senior official of many municipal governments in the English-speaking world. In some communities, including most in the United States, the position is elected, but in many others, the clerk is appointed to their post. In the UK, a To ...
of
Grantham
Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...
, Calcraft set out on a career as an army contractor under the patronage of Grantham's
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 ...
(MP),
the Marquess of Granby, at this period a rising army officer, and of one of the
Whig leaders in Parliament,
Henry Fox, to whom he was apparently related. (The nature of the relationship was never made clear, and insinuations were made that he was Fox's natural son.) Calcraft was deputy paymaster of the
Duke of Cumberland
Duke of Cumberland is a peerage title that was conferred upon junior members of the British Royal Family, named after the historic county of Cumberland.
History
The Earldom of Cumberland, created in 1525, became extinct in 1643. The dukedo ...
's army at the time of the
Jacobite rising of 1745
The Jacobite rising of 1745, also known as the Forty-five Rebellion or simply the '45 ( gd, Bliadhna Theàrlaich, , ), was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the Monarchy of Great Britain, British throne for his father, James Franci ...
, and subsequently a clerk in the
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...
(1747–56), paymaster of widow's pensions (1757–62) and deputy-commissary of musters (1756–63). All of these posts offered lucrative opportunities for enrichment, both legitimate and less so. As well as the functions directly arising from the offices he held, he was involved with the rebuilding of
Horse Guards, held contracts for delivering coal to
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
, and became agent to many regiments of the army, a role with both administrative and financial responsibilities and offering considerable opportunity for profit if ably handled. By 1761, he was acting for no less than 49 colonels. Calcraft amassed a considerable fortune.
Political career
In 1757 Calcraft purchased an estate at Rempstone on the
Isle of Purbeck
The Isle of Purbeck is a peninsula in Dorset, England. It is bordered by water on three sides: the English Channel to the south and east, where steep cliffs fall to the sea; and by the marshy lands of the River Frome and Poole Harbour to the n ...
in
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
, which gave him an interest in three nearby
parliamentary borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
s,
Corfe Castle
Corfe Castle is a fortification standing above the village of the same name on the Isle of Purbeck peninsula in the English county of Dorset. Built by William the Conqueror, the castle dates to the 11th century and commands a gap in the P ...
,
Poole
Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...
and
Wareham. He quickly set out to buy further property which would increase his influence in each borough: he was unsuccessful at Corfe Castle, but acquired sufficient sway at Poole to secure the election of his brother,
Thomas Calcraft
Thomas Calcraft (1738–1783) was an English politician and Lieutenant-Colonel. He was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament for Poole (UK Parliament constituency), Poole from 1761 to 1774.
Life
He was born in Ancaster ...
, in 1761 and 1768, and became landlord to enough of the voters to gain complete control of Wareham, which remained a Calcraft
pocket borough
A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorat ...
until the
Reform Act
In the United Kingdom, Reform Act is most commonly used for legislation passed in the 19th century and early 20th century to enfranchise new groups of voters and to redistribute seats in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...
. In 1760 he bought a further estate, at Ingress near
Dartford
Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and
is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...
in
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
.
Calcraft was by now one of the most influential behind-the-scenes figures in British politics, working hand-in-glove with Fox, and was particularly deeply involved in the discussions to construct a government following the fall of
Bute in 1763. But at this point he fell out with Fox, who he believed should give up the
Pay Office, and became more closely associated with
Shelburne and
Pitt, and there was talk that he would be offered an Irish peerage. However, he lost his office as deputy-commissary of musters when the Shelburne group joined the opposition at the end of 1763, and the vindictive Fox considered attempting to have him dismissed also from some of his regimental agencies; but in any case, he soon after retired from the agency business and turned his attention to finding a seat in Parliament. In 1765 he acquired
Leeds Abbey
Leeds Priory, also known as Leeds Abbey, was a priory in Leeds, Kent, England, that was founded in 1119 and dissolved in 1539. A mansion was later built on the site of the priory; it was demolished in the late 18th century. The site of the form ...
in Kent and made considerable improvements and additions to the house and its grounds. On his death on 1772, he devised it with the rest of his estates, to his eldest son,
John Calcroft.
''Parishes: Leeds, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent'': Volume 5 (1798), pp. 478-502. Retrieved 07 December 2010
/ref>
A vacancy arose at Rochester
Rochester may refer to:
Places Australia
* Rochester, Victoria
Canada
* Rochester, Alberta
United Kingdom
*Rochester, Kent
** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area
** History of Rochester, Kent
** HM Prison ...
in November 1765, and Calcraft stood on the independent interest but was narrowly defeated by the government candidate; Rochester was generally considered to be a safe government borough, and a less wealthy candidate would have had no chance. In April the following year, however, he was returned as member for Calne
Calne () is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, southwestern England,OS Explorer Map 156, Chippenham and Bradford-on-Avon Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey A2 edition (2007). at the northwestern extremity of the North Wessex Downs h ...
, one of Shelburne's boroughs, and supported the Chatham
Chatham may refer to:
Places and jurisdictions Canada
* Chatham Islands (British Columbia)
* Chatham Sound, British Columbia
* Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi
* Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...
ministry in the House. At the end of the Parliament he secured government support for his second candidacy at Rochester
Rochester may refer to:
Places Australia
* Rochester, Victoria
Canada
* Rochester, Alberta
United Kingdom
*Rochester, Kent
** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area
** History of Rochester, Kent
** HM Prison ...
, where he was duly elected. Nevertheless, after Chatham's resignation he consistently spoke and voted with the Opposition. He was also an enthusiastic supporter of Parliamentary Reform. He died in 1772.
Family life
Calcraft married a wife, Bridget, in 1744, but they soon separated and he seems to have been able to conceal her existence, for in 1762 there was speculation about his intentions to marry a Miss Wriothesley; nevertheless, she survived him and made a successful claim against his estate after his death. They had no children, but he had illegitimate children with at least two other women, Mrs George Anne Bellamy
George Anne Bellamy (''née'' O'Hara; 23 April 173116 February 1788) was an Irish actress. She took leading roles at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
Her success was rapid, participating in the rivalry for popular favor in ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 1750 ...
and Mrs Elizabeth Bride, both actresses. He made John Calcraft (the younger)
John Calcraft the Younger (16 October 1765 – 11 September 1831), of Rempstone in Dorset and Ingress in Kent, was an English landowner and Member of Parliament.
The illegitimate son and principal heir of John Calcraft the Elder, a politician w ...
, his eldest son by Mrs Bride, his main heir. The younger Calcraft followed his father into Parliament, initially as member for Wareham. His brother Thomas Calcraft
Thomas Calcraft (1738–1783) was an English politician and Lieutenant-Colonel. He was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament for Poole (UK Parliament constituency), Poole from 1761 to 1774.
Life
He was born in Ancaster ...
was MP for Poole
Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calcraft, John
1726 births
1772 deaths
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies
British MPs 1761–1768
British MPs 1768–1774
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Calne