John Pollen (c. 1702–1775), of Andover, Hampshire, was a British lawyer and Whig 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. ...

from 1734 to 1754. Pollen was the third son of

John Pollen John Pollen may refer to: * John Hungerford Pollen (senior) (1820–1902), English writer on crafts and furniture * John Hungerford Pollen (Jesuit) (1858–1925), English Jesuit, known as a historian of the Protestant Reformation * John Pollen (die ...

, MP of Andover, and his third wife Mary Sherwood, daughter of Edward Sherwood of

East Hendred East Hendred is a village and civil parish about east of Wantage in the Vale of White Horse and a similar distance west of Didcot. The village is on East Hendred Brook, which flows from the Berkshire Downs to join the River Thames at Sutton C ...

, Berkshire. He was admitted 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 ...

on 28 November 1718 and matriculated at

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12th ...

on 17 October 1719, aged 17. In 1726, he was called to the bar. He married Hester St John, daughter of Ellis St. John (formerly Mews) of Farley and Dogmersfield Park, Hampshire on 8 July 1731. Pollen was a practising lawyer. At the

1734 British general election The 1734 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 8th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. Robert Walpole's incr ...

, he was returned as a Whig

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

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia * Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Ando ...

on his own interest. He voted with the Administration in all recorded divisions, except on the place bill of 1740, when he was absent. At the

1741 British general election The 1741 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 9th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election saw suppo ...

, he was elected MP for Andover in a contest. In 1742 he was appointed 2nd justice on the Carmarthen circuit. He became a bencher of his Inn in 1746. At the

1747 British general election The 1747 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 10th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election saw Henr ...

he was returned unopposed again for Andover. In 1749 he applied to Hardwicke to become chief justice of his circuit, and was awarded the post in 1753. He did not stand at the

1754 British general election The 1754 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 11th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. Owing to the exten ...

. Pollen was Chief Justice for the rest of his life, and died on 24 July 1775. He left two sons and four daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollen, John 1700s births 1775 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1734–1741 British MPs 1741–1747 British MPs 1747–1754