John Purling (c. 1722–1800) was an East India Company commander and director and a 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. T ...

between 1770 and 1790. John Purling (1727-1801)

Purling's parentage is unknown but he may been a native of St Helena. Mr or Captain John Purling was allowed by the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

to travel there in 1750 at his own expense. He entered the Company's shipping service and was commander of the

Indiaman East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vesse ...

''Sandwich'' from 1753 to 1759, and ''Neptune'' from 1760 to 1762. Following his last highly profitable China voyage. he resigned the service, and in April 1763 was elected a director of the Company. In 1770, Purling became Deputy Chairman of the East India Company and purchased the estate of Bradford Peverell in Dorset. Also in 1770 he stood in a by-election at New Shoreham in opposition to two other members of the East Indian Company,

Thomas Rumbold Sir Thomas Rumbold, 1st Baronet (15 January 1736 – 11 November 1791) was a British administrator in British Raj, India and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1770 and 1790. He served as Governor of Madras from 1777 to 1780. He b ...

and William James. Although Purling came second on the poll he was declared elected

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 ...

by the returning officer who was concerned at the level of bribery and corruption by other candidates. However he was unseated on petition. In 1771 he became Chairman of the East India Company. In a by-election in 1772 he was returned unopposed as MP for East Looe on the interest of John Buller senior. In 1772 the East India Company ran into financial difficulties, and Purling as its chairman was criticized for misleading the proprietors about their position. Although the control of the Company's affairs really rested with Sulivan and Sir George Colebrook and Purling's responsibility was largely nominal, he refused to stand for re-election as Chairman in 1773. In a speech in Parliament on 23 March 1773, he welcomed parliamentary investigation into the Company's affairs. In 1774 he took the lead in pressing for the compensation of East India commanders adversely affected by the shipping reforms resulting from the Regulating Act of 1773. In 1774 he was returned unopposed for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis. He became a director of the EIC again in 1777 and remained until 1780. In

1780 Events January–March * January 16 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Cape St. Vincent: British Admiral Sir George Rodney defeats a Spanish fleet. * February 19 – The legislature of New York votes to allow ...

he was returned for Weymouth unopposed. He was a member of the St. Alban's Tavern group, which tried to bring about a union between Pitt and Fox. He was returned unopposed for Weymouth again in

1784 Events January–March * January 6 – Treaty of Constantinople: The Ottoman Empire agrees to Russia's annexation of the Crimea. * January 14 – The Congress of the United States ratifies the Treaty of Paris with Great Bri ...

but did not stand in

1790 Events January–March * January 8 – United States President George Washington gives the first State of the Union address, in New York City. * January 11 – The 11 minor states of the Austrian Netherlands, which took ...

. Purling died on 23 August 1800, aged 78. His will mentions property near Weymouth and Ramsay in Huntingdonshire, and also at St. Vincent in the West Indies He built up a large collection of works of art by Raphael, Correggio, Carracci, Guido, Parmegiano, Claude Titian, Tintoretto, S. Ricci, Domenichino, P. Veronese, P. Da Cortona, C. Maratti, Poussin, Murillo, Cuyp, Rubens, Teniers, Zuccarelli, Wilson, Wouvermans, P. Potter, Vanderwerff, Vandervelde, Berchem, Ferg and others. These were auctioned in 1801 after his death.A Catalogue of the Renowned and Valuable Collection of Pictures of John Purling Esq
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Purling, John 1720s births 1800 deaths Directors of the British East India Company British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1784–1790 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies