John Pocklington (1658–1731) was an English lawyer and Whig politician who sat in the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and
British House of Commons between 1695 and 1713. He was appointed a
Welsh circuit
judge in 1707 and a judge of the
Court of Exchequer (Ireland)
The Court of Exchequer (Ireland) or the Irish Exchequer of Pleas, was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was the mirror image of the equivalent court in England. The Court of Exchequer was one of the four royal courts of justic ...
in 1714, as a result of which he settled in Ireland. He suffered from chronic ill health, and was imprisoned on the orders of the
Irish House of Lords
The Irish House of Lords was the upper house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from medieval times until 1800. It was also the final court of appeal of the Kingdom of Ireland.
It was modelled on the House of Lords of England, with membe ...
in 1719, during a major Constitutional crisis.
[Lyall p.314] His descendants, who adopted the surname Domvile, were wealthy landowners in
Templeogue
Templeogue () is a southwestern suburb of Dublin in Ireland. It lies between the River Poddle and River Dodder, and is about halfway from Dublin's centre to the mountains to the south.
Geography Location
The centre of Templeogue is from b ...
, south
County Dublin
"Action to match our speech"
, image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg
, map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...
.
Early life
Pocklington was born in
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...
, the eldest son of Rev. Oliver Pocklington, a clergyman who came originally from
Brington, Cambridgeshire, and his wife, Katherine Towers, of
Castle Ashby
Castle Ashby is the name of a civil parish, an estate village and an English country house in rural Northamptonshire. Historically the village was set up to service the needs of Castle Ashby House, the seat of the Marquess of Northampton. The v ...
,
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by
two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...
.
His grandfather,
John Pocklington, was also a clergyman and a noted polemicist during the controversies leading up to the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
, who argued strongly in support of the ecclesiastical policies of Archbishop
William Laud
William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Charles I's religious reforms, he was arrested by Parliament in 1640 ...
. He was deprived of his living by the
Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...
shortly before his death in 1642.
The younger John went to school in
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
, and was admitted at
St John's College, Cambridge on 27 October 1674. He entered
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 ...
on 24 May 1677 and was
called to the Bar in 1684.
He married Mary Hatton, eldest daughter of
Sir Thomas Hatton, 2nd Baronet of
Longstanton
Longstanton is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, north-west of Cambridge city centre. Longstanton occupies . Longstanton was created in 1953 from the two parishes of Long Stanton All Saints and Long Stanton St Michae ...
, Cambridgeshire, and his wife Bridget Goring, by licence dated 15 May 1689.
Career
Pocklington was returned as
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 o ...
for
Huntingdon
Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cromwell was born there ...
at the
1695 English general election
The 1695 English general election was the first to be held under the terms of the Triennial Act of 1694, which required parliament to be dissolved and fresh elections called at least every three years. This measure helped to fuel partisan rivalry ...
. He was a very active member but was not put forward for election at
1698 English general election. He stood for Huntingdon again in the interest of
Edward Montagu, 3rd Earl of Sandwich at the
1702 English general election, but was defeated by two Tories.
[
At the ]1705 English general election
The 1705 English general election saw contests in 110 constituencies in England and Wales, roughly 41% of the total. The election was fiercely fought, with mob violence and cries of "Church in Danger" occurring in several boroughs. During the pre ...
he was put up as MP for Huntingdonshire
Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popu ...
and was returned unopposed. He voted for the Court candidate in the division on choosing the Speaker on 25 October 1705, and for the Court side in the vote on the ‘place clause’ of the Regency Bill
George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...
on 18 February 1706.[
Pocklington was appointed as second justice of the ]palatine
A palatine or palatinus (in Latin; plural ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman times. court of Chester in 1707 at a salary of £400 p.a., on the recommendation of Charles Montagu, 1st Duke of Manchester
Charles Edward Montagu, 1st Duke of Manchester, (''previously'' 4th Earl of Manchester) (20 January 1722) was a British aristocrat and statesman.
Early life
Charles was born into the Noble House of Montagu. He was the eldest son of the forme ...
. Pocklington was returned again as Whig MP for Huntingdonshire at the 1708 British general election
The 1708 British general election was the first general election to be held after the Acts of Union had united the Parliaments of England and Scotland.
The election saw the Whigs finally gain a majority in the House of Commons, and by November ...
. He supported the naturalization of the German Palatines
Palatines (german: Pfälzer), also known as the Palatine Dutch, are the people and princes of Palatinates ( Holy Roman principalities) of the Holy Roman Empire. The Palatine diaspora includes the Pennsylvania Dutch and New York Dutch.
In 1709 ...
in 1709, and voted for the impeachment of Dr Henry Sacheverell
Henry Sacheverell (; 8 February 1674 – 5 June 1724) was an English high church Anglican clergyman who achieved nationwide fame in 1709 after preaching an incendiary 5 November sermon. He was subsequently impeached by the House of Commons and ...
in 1710. [
On this account, he suffered various insults while on the circuit during the summer of 1710. Pocklington was chosen again for Huntingdonshire at the 1710 British general election, after the Duke of Manchester had arranged an electoral pact with John Proby, a more independent-minded Whig. He voted against the French commerce bill on 18 June 1713, but was not put up again in the 1713 British general election.][
]
Judge in Ireland
Pocklington's career in England reached its low point in 1713, when he lost both his seat in Parliament and his place on the Bench, but a new career opened up for him in 1714. On the death of Queen Anne her Irish judges were dismissed ''en bloc'' for their adherence to the Tory
A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...
party. Yet suitable replacements for judicial office were not easy to find in Ireland: "God help the country!" was the general reaction to the appointment of one of the new Irish-born judges. The promotion of English Whig lawyers to the Irish Bench was the obvious alternative, and Pocklington agreed to serve: he was soon joined as Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer
The Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer was the Baron ( judge) who presided over the Court of Exchequer (Ireland). The Irish Court of Exchequer was a mirror of the equivalent court in England and was one of the four courts which sat in the build ...
by an old friend, Sir Jeffrey Gilbert. Both men became popular in Ireland and their first years in the country were described as "halcyon".
''Sherlock v Annesley''
Pocklington's contentment with his life in Ireland was shattered when a seemingly routine lawsuit, ''Sherlock v Annesley'', where two cousins disputed the right to the possession of certain lands in County Kildare, created a major crisis in Government: in Pocklington's own memorable phrase: "a flame burst forth and the country's last resentment fell upon us (the Barons)".[ By bringing separate appeals to the Irish and the British House of Lords, the litigants reopened an old dispute as to which House was the final court of appeal for Ireland.][ The two Houses issued contradictory orders to the Barons of the Irish Exchequer – Gilbert, Pocklington and Sir John St Leger – who felt obliged to implement the British decree.][ They were summoned by the Irish House of Lords to explain their conduct, and after an impassioned hearing they were committed to the custody of Black Rod for contempt of Parliament.][ Pocklington, who has been described as "something of a prig",][ with a habit of irritating his listeners by delivering pompous lectures, is unlikely to have made a good impression on the Lords. He was in custody for three months, which may have contributed to his later ill health. The ]British Parliament
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...
responded by passing the Declaratory Act of 1719
An Act for the better securing the dependency of the Kingdom of Ireland on the Crown of Great Britain ( 6. Geo. I, c. 5) was a 1719 Act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain which declared that it had the right to pass laws for the Kingdom of ...
(popularly known as the "sixth of George I") removing the Irish House of Lords' right to hear judicial appeals: this inflamed the public mood of anger and bitterness even further, and Pocklington and his colleagues were viciously insulted.
Later life
After regaining his freedom Pocklington might well have been expected to return to England, as Sir Jeffrey Gilbert soon did: but he was happy to continue living in Ireland, where he had bought an estate near Celbridge. He lobbied unsuccessfully to become Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas in 1720. He made occasional visits to England, but his health was failing. He felt well enough to go on the Munster assize
The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes e ...
in 1724, but suffered a "paralytic seizure" at Limerick
Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...
, and the following year he was confined to his house for several months. In July 1731 his name appears as one of the trustees of the King's Inns.
Death and legacy
Pocklington died on 22 October 1731 and was buried in Finglas
Finglas (; ) is a northwestern outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It lies close to Junction 5 of the M50 motorway, and the N2 road. Nearby suburbs include Glasnevin and Ballymun; Dublin Airport is to the north. Finglas lies mainly in the posta ...
. By his wife Mary Hatton he had one son, Christopher, who became an Admiral in the Irish Navy. Christopher married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Domvile, and heiress of the Domvile baronets of Templeogue
Templeogue () is a southwestern suburb of Dublin in Ireland. It lies between the River Poddle and River Dodder, and is about halfway from Dublin's centre to the mountains to the south.
Geography Location
The centre of Templeogue is from b ...
. Their descendants, who took the Domvile name, inherited the substantial Domvile estates in south County Dublin, and were later made the Domvile baronets of the second creation.
References
Sources
*Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' John Murray London 1926
*''Cambridge Alumni Database''
*Cokayne ''Complete Baronetage'' Vol. 2 1900
*Kenny, Colum ''King's Inns and the Kingdom of Ireland'' Irish Academic Press Dublin 1992
*Lemmings, David ''Gentlemen and Barristers: the Inns of Court and the English Bar 1680-1730'' Oxford University Press 1990
*Lyall, Andrew ''The Irish House of Lords as a Judicial Body 1783-1800'' Irish Jurist new series Vol. 23-25 (1993-1995)
*''The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pocklington, John
Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for constituencies in Huntingdonshire
1658 births
1731 deaths
Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge
Members of the Middle Temple
English MPs 1695–1698
British MPs 1708–1710
British MPs 1710–1713
Barons of the Irish Exchequer
Politicians from Nottingham