John Hoskins Gifford (c.1693–1744), of

Beaminster Beaminster ( ) is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England, situated in the Dorset Council administrative area approximately northwest of the county town Dorchester. It is sited in a bowl-shaped valley near the source of the small River Br ...

, Dorset, and

Boreham Boreham is a village and civil parish, in Essex, England. The parish is in the City of Chelmsford and Chelmsford Parliament constituency. The village is approximately northeast from the county town of Chelmsford. History Boreham is listed i ...

, near Warminster, Wiltshire, was a British Tory 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 1713 and 1734. Gifford was the second son of William Gifford of Beaminster, Dorset, and Horsington, Somerset and his wife Mary Hoskins, daughter of John Hoskins of Beaminster. He matriculated at

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...

on 7 December 1710, aged 17, and was admitted at

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1710. In 1713 he succeeded to the family estates in Wiltshire and Somerset on the death of his brother Benjamin Gifford, M.P. At the 1713 general election Gifford 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

Bridport Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England, inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the River Brit and its tributary the Asker. Its origins are Saxon and it has a long history as a rope-making centre. On the coast and withi ...

but did not stand in

1715 Events For dates within Great Britain and the British Empire, as well as in the Russian Empire, the "old style" Julian calendar was used in 1715, and can be converted to the "new style" Gregorian calendar (adopted in the British Empire i ...

1722 Events January–March * January 27 – Daniel Defoe's novel ''Moll Flanders'' is published anonymously in London. * February 10 – The Battle of Cape Lopez begins off of the coast of West Africa (and present-day Gabon), as ...

. At the 1727 election he was returned as MP for Westbury on the interest of Lord Abingdon and survived a petition against the return. In Parliament he voted against the army estimates in 1732 and the

Excise Bill The Excise Bill of 1733 was a proposal by the British government of Robert Walpole to impose an excise tax on a variety of products. This would have allowed Customs officers to search private dwellings to look for contraband untaxed goods. The per ...

in 1733. He did not stand in

1734 Events January– March * January 8 – Salzburgers, Lutherans who were expelled by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Salzburg, Austria, in October 1731, set sail for the British Colony of Province of Georgia, Georgia in North America ...

. Gifford married Elizabeth Watts, daughter of Nicholas Watts of

Cucklington Cucklington is a village and parish in Somerset, England, situated on a hill south east of Wincanton and north west of Gillingham in the South Somerset district, near the Dorset border. The village has a population of 173. The nearest railwa ...

, Somerset in December 1731. He died without issue in August 1744.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gifford, John Hoskins 1690s births 1744 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1713–1715 British MPs 1727–1734