Sir John Williams ( – 7 May 1743) was an English merchant and

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 ...

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 ...

from 1730 to 1734.

Personal life

Williams was the second son of Reginald Williams of Stoke by Nayland, and his second wife Sarah Dyke, daughter of Sir Thomas Dyke of Horsham, Sussex. He died on 7 May 1743 after languishing of a dropsy and had been tapped several times. He left three sons.

Career

Williams was a merchant in trade with Turkey and was said to be ‘the greatest exporter of cloth in England. In 1711 he became a director of the

South Sea Company The South Sea Company (officially The Governor and Company of the merchants of Great Britain, trading to the South Seas and other parts of America, and for the encouragement of the Fishery) was a British joint-stock company founded in Ja ...

, a role he held until 1715. In 1720 he was sub-governor of the Royal Exchange Assurance 1720. He was elected

Alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members t ...

for

Cripplegate Cripplegate was a gate in the London Wall which once enclosed the City of London. The gate gave its name to the Cripplegate ward of the City which straddles the line of the former wall and gate, a line which continues to divide the ward into ...

on 20 June 1723 and was knighted on 23 June 1723. He also became Master of the Mercers Company in 1723. He stood for parliament at Minehead in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in 1723, but was unsuccessful. At the

1727 British general election The 1727 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 7th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election was trig ...

, he contested City of London and was again unsuccessful. He was

Sheriff of London Two sheriffs are elected annually for the City of London by the Liverymen of the City livery companies. Today's sheriffs have only nominal duties, but the historical officeholders had important judicial responsibilities. They have attended the ju ...

for the year 1729 to 1730. Williams was returned as

MP for

Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town in the county of Suffolk, England. Located to the north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the international Alde ...

at a by-election on 8 May 1730. He did not stand in 1734. He served as

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional pow ...

for the year 1735 to 1736.

References

1670s births 1743 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Year of birth uncertain British MPs 1727–1734 18th-century lord mayors of London {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub