John Tempest Jr. (1739 – 12 August 1794) was a

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

landowner and

Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...

politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

from 1768 to 1794.

Biography

A member of the

Old Durham Old Durham is a hamlet in County Durham, in England. It is situated approximately 1 mile east of central Durham and south of Gilesgate. The most northerly remains of a Romanised farmstead in the Roman Empire were excavated at Old Durham d ...

branch of the

Tempest family The Tempest family was an English Recusancy, recusant family that originated in western Yorkshire (part of which is now eastern Lancashire) in the 12th century. Tempest baronets of Stella and Stanley, County Durham A branch of the Tempest family ...

,Robert Surtees, History of Durham, Vol IV, p.93 Tempest was born in Sherburn,

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

, the son of John Tempest of Wynyard (1710–1776) and Frances Shuttleworth. He was educated at

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It descends from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the Norman Conquest, as do ...

(1750) and

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mo ...

(1758). He inherited his family's extensive landed interests including the manors of Wynyard, The Isle, Kelloe, Old Durham and Rainton, making him one of the largest shippers of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

via

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

in the late 18th century. Tempest represented the City of Durham in the Parliaments of

1768 Events January–March * January 9 – Philip Astley stages the first modern circus, with acrobats on galloping horses, in London. * February 11 – Samuel Adams's circular letter is issued by the Massachusetts House of Re ...

1774 Events January–March * January 21 – Mustafa III, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, dies and is succeeded by his brother Abdul Hamid I. * January 27 ** An angry crowd in Boston, Massachusetts seizes, tars, and feathers British customs ...

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 all ...

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 Brit ...

and

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 pa ...

, and joined his fellow Durham MP

John Lambton John Lambton may refer to: * John Lambton (British Army officer) (1710–1794), British Army officer and politician * John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham (1792–1840), British politician and colonial administrator * John Lambton, 3rd Earl of Durham ...

in constantly opposing the administration of

Lord North Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (13 April 17325 August 1792), better known by his courtesy title Lord North, which he used from 1752 to 1790, was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782. He led Great Britain through most of the ...

. In 1784 he was a member of the

St. Alban's Tavern group The St. Alban's Tavern group was an informal association of 78 United Kingdom, British Member of Parliament, Members of Parliament who aimed to bring about a reconciliation of William Pitt the Younger and Charles James Fox in a unified Ministry. The ...

who tried to bring Fox and Pitt together.

Family

Tempest married Ann Townsend (?–1817) daughter of

Joseph Townsend Joseph Townsend (4 April 1739 – 9 November 1816) was a British medical doctor, geologist and rector of Pewsey in Wiltshire, perhaps best known for his 1786 treatise ''A Dissertation on the Poor Laws'' in which he expounded a naturalistic theo ...

Honington, Warwickshire Honington, Warwickshire is a hamlet (place), hamlet and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon District of Warwickshire, England. It is in the Brailes division of the hundred (administrative division), hundred of Kington (hundred), Kington, and ...

. Their only son, John Wharton Tempest (1772–1793) (the subject of a painting by George Romney), predeceased them as a result of a riding accident. The Tempest estates thus devolved to his nephew Henry, the son of a sister who had married the Rev. Sir Henry Vane Bt. of

Long Newton Longnewton (also known as Long Newton) is a village and civil parish in the borough of Stockton-on-Tees and ceremonial county of County Durham, England. The population taken at the 2001 Census was 733 increasing to 828 at the 2011 Census. It i ...

, upon condition that his nephew assumed the name and arms of Tempest. Having fulfilled the requirement, Sir Henry Vane-Tempest Bt. (1771–1813) also replaced his uncle as M.P. for Durham City on 17 October 1794 and was the ancestor of the Vane-Tempest-Stewarts, Earls Vane and Marquesses of Londonderry.

References

Sources

*Robert Surtees, ''History of Durham (1816–1840)'' *Brian Masters, ''Wynyard Hall and the Londonderry Family'' (1973) 1739 births 1794 deaths People from Durham, England People educated at Westminster School, London Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for the City of Durham British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1784–1790 Tory MPs (pre-1834)

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 ...

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