John Penn (22 February 1760 – 21 June 1834) was a British politician and writer who was the chief proprietor of the

Province of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn, who received the land through a grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania was derived from ...

from 1775 to 1776. He and his cousin, John Penn ("John Penn, the Governor") held unsold property, of , which the Pennsylvania legislature confiscated after the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

. Penn lived in Philadelphia for five years after the Revolution, from 1783 to 1788, building a country house just outside the city. He returned to Great Britain in 1789 after receiving his three-fourths portion of £130,000, the compensation for the proprietorship by the Pennsylvania government. He and his cousin, John Penn, who remained a resident in US, received compensation from Parliament for their losses in the former colony. In 1798, he was appointed as High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire and served as a Member of Parliament (1802–1805). He was appointed in 1805, as governor of the

Isle of Portland The Isle of Portland is a tied island, long by wide, in the English Channel. The southern tip, Portland Bill, lies south of the resort of Weymouth, Dorset, Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England. A barrier ...

. Also a writer, he published in a variety of genres.

Life

He was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England, the son of

Thomas Penn Thomas Penn ( – 21 March 1775) was an English landowner and mercer who was the List of colonial governors of Pennsylvania, chief proprietor of Pennsylvania from 1746 to 1775. He was one of 17 children of William Penn, the founder of the colo ...

and his wife Lady Juliana Fermor Penn (the daughter of Thomas Fermor, first earl of Pomfret), elder brother to Granville Penn, and a grandson of

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quakers, Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonization of the Americas, British colonial era. An advocate of democracy and religi ...

, founder of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. He studied at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

. On the death of his father in 1775, he succeeded to his father's interests, and inherited three quarters of the proprietorship of Pennsylvania. The other quarter of the proprietorship belonged to his cousin, also named John Penn, the colonial governor of the province. The Penns later lost the proprietorship as a result of the

In 1776, he entered

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the Unive ...

as a fellow commoner. He made an extended visit to Pennsylvania after the Revolution, from 1783 to 1788. He rented a

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

city house and designed and built a country house, The Solitude, which survives as part of the grounds of the Philadelphia Zoo. He returned to England in 1789 with his 75% share of the £130,000 compensation for the loss of the family's unsold property of the proprietorship in Pennsylvania, a total of , which he shared with his cousin, John Penn. He rebuilt the Penn mansion in the family estate of Stoke Park. He and his cousin also appealed to Parliament for compensation and they received a total of £4,000 annually in perpetuity. In 1798, Penn was appointed High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire. He was a Member of Parliament for Helston from 1802 to 1805. In 1805, he was appointed as governor of the

, where he built Pennsylvania Castle and later the sea bathing stone bath known as John Penn's Bath, close to the gardens of the castle.Pennsylvania Castle
/ref> In 1818, still a bachelor at 58, Penn founded the Matrimonial Society, soon renamed the Outinian Society to encourage young men and women to marry. He died at age 74, unmarried, at Stoke Park in Stoke Poges. He was succeeded by his brother, Granville Penn.

Selected bibliography

*'' The Battle of Eddington, or British Liberty'', a 1796 tragedy *Some pamphlets *A collected volume of poems *''Observations in Illustration of Virgil's Celebrated Fourth Eclogue'' (1810). This last title is a discussion of Virgil's "Fourth Eclogue," in which Penn reasons that Virgil's eclogue is not a prophecy of the birth of Jesus Christ, as others had argued, but a ''Genethliacon,'' a birthday-poem in honour of Octavius, who became Augustus Caesar. He received the degree of LL.D. from Cambridge in 1811.

References

External links

Biographical note
{{DEFAULTSORT:Penn, John 1760 births 1834 deaths Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge People from colonial Pennsylvania Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Cornwall People educated at Eton College UK MPs 1802–1806

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

English people of Welsh descent High sheriffs of Buckinghamshire Writers from London

Life

Selected bibliography

See also

References

External links