John Heathcote FRS (''c.''1727 – 29 July 1795) was a British

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 ...

. He was born the second son of

Sir John Heathcote, 2nd Baronet Sir John Heathcote, 2nd Baronet (1689 – 6 September 1759) of Normanton Park, Rutland was a British merchant and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1715 and 1741. Heathcote was the eldest surviving son of ...

, of

Normanton, Rutland Normanton is a village and civil parish on the eastern shore of Rutland Water in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. The population remained less than 100 at the 2011 census and was included in the civil parish of Edith Weston. ...

, from whom he inherited estates at

Steeple Gidding In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religi ...

and

Conington, Huntingdonshire Conington (Conington All Saints, or "Conington-juxta-Petriburg") is an English village and civil parish in the Cambridgeshire district of Huntingdonshire. Conington lies about 10 km (6 miles) south of Peterborough and 3 km (2 miles) north of S ...

in 1759. He studied law at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

(1744). He became a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

on 12 May 1768. He served as

High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...

for 1767–68 and was the MP for

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest len ...

from 29 June 1790 until his death. He married Lydia Moyer (d. 14 August 1822) on 27 October 1764, they had two children: * John Heathcote (14 November 1767 – 3 May 1838) * Lydia Heathcote (d. 18 March 1848, York) married on 6 June 1811 William Henry Dawnay 6th Viscount Downe (d. 23 May 1846), they had two sons and a daughter. John Heathcote is buried in Chingford Essex.

References

* 1720s births 1795 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1790–1796 Fellows of the Royal Society High Sheriffs of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Younger sons of baronets {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub