Sir Patrick Vans (c. 1655 – 27 January 1733) was a Scottish army officer and politician who sat in the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...

between 1710 and 1722. Vans was the only surviving son of Alexander Vans of Barnbarroch and his wife, Margaret Maxwell, daughter of William Maxwell of Monreith, Wigtown. He joined the army and was in the French military from about 1673 to 1689. He was a captain in the Enniskillen regiment from about 1690 to 1693 and a captain in Colonel George McGill's Foot from 1696 to 1697. Before 1702, he married Margaret Campbell, daughter of Sir James Campbell of Lawers, Perth. In 1706 he was a lieutenant in Colonel Roger Townshend's Foot and by April 1707 a captain in Lord Mark Kerr's Foot. Between 1710 and 1712, he served as a Lieutenant Colonel. Vans 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 of ...

for

Wigtownshire Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown (, ) is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Wigtownshire was an administrative county used for local government. Since 1975 the area has f ...

at the

1710 general election Year 171 ( CLXXI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Herennianus (or, less frequently, year 924 ''Ab urbe con ...

but was unseated on petition on 3 March 1711. He was on half-pay by 1714 and became a Burgess of Glasgow and Ayr in 1714. He married Barbara McDowall daughter of Patrick McDowall of Freugh, Wigtown as his second wife at the age of 60 on 28 February 1715. Vans was returned as MP for Wigtown Burghs in the

1715 general election Events For dates within Great Britain and the British Empire, as well as in the Russian Empire, the "old style" Julian calendar was used in 1715, and can be converted to the "new style" Gregorian calendar (adopted in the British Empire i ...

but did not stand in

1722 Events January–March * January 27 – Daniel Defoe's novel ''Moll Flanders'' is published anonymously in London. * February 10 – The Battle of Cape Lopez begins off of the coast of West Africa (and present-day Gabon), as ...

. Vans died on 27 January 1733 from an old wound received in Spain. He had a son and daughter by his first wife and two sons and three daughters by his second wife.

References

*''The Parliaments of England'' by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844–50), 2nd edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973) 1650s births 1733 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Scottish constituencies British MPs 1710–1713 British MPs 1715–1722 {{Scotland-GreatBritain-MP-stub