John Mortlock (1755–1816) was a British banker,

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 ...

and 13 times mayor of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. He was the only son of John Mortlock, a prosperous woollen draper of Cambridge. He succeeded his father in the business in 1777. His family seat was Abington Hall in Abington Magna outside Cambridge. In 1778 Mortlock bought himself the Freedom of Cambridge for £40. In 1780 he founded the first bank in Cambridge. Mortlock's bank, which was originally situated on the corner of Rose Crescent and then moved to Bene't Street, would be run by members of the Mortlock family for over one hundred years. In 1896 the bank was amalgamated with Barclays & Co. In 1782 he became an alderman, then mayor and, in 1784, the

for

. Mortlock, who was a great friend and supporter of Pitt the Younger, was called corrupt by his political opponents, though as the plaque suggests he had a different view of things:"''without influence, which you call corruption, men will not be induced to support government, though they generally approve of its measures''". In 1792 he was appointed to the lucrative post of

Receiver General A receiver general (or receiver-general) is an officer responsible for accepting payments on behalf of a government, and for making payments to a government on behalf of other parties. See also * Treasurer * Receiver General for Canada * Recei ...

of the Post Office, a position he held until 1806. John Mortlock Memorial

He died in 1816. He had married Elizabeth, the daughter of grocer Stephen Harrison, and with her had eight sons and two daughters. A son, John Cheetham Mortlock,John Cheetham Mortlock was named for Thomas Cheetham (d. 1785). was knighted. A grandson John Frederick Mortlock wrote an account of his transportation to Australia and another grandson Frederick William Mortlock worked in customs in Jamaica.

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The Banking Mortlocks
by R.J.H. Griffiths, 2011. People from Cambridge Mayors of Cambridge 1755 births 1816 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1784–1790 {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub