John Jolliffe (bapt. 31 July 1696''England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975'' – 31 January 1771) was an English politician. He established his family's political control of the

pocket borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorat ...

of borough of Petersfield in Hampshire, and sat for the town 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. ...

for a total of 30 years.

Early life and family

Jolliffe was the third son of Benjamin Jolliffe of

Cofton Hall Cofton Hall is a country house on the Lickey Hills near Cofton Hackett, in the Bromsgrove (district), Bromsgrove District of Worcestershire, north east Worcestershire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. Most of the original 14th century b ...

, Worcestershire. His mother, Mary, was a daughter of the London merchant John Jolliffe, and a sister of Sir William Jolliffe. He was educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

and at

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the univer ...

then at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

and the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

. In March 1731 he married Catherine Michell, daughter and heir of Robert Michell, a

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 ...

(MP) for Petersfield. Catherine died in June 1731, and in 1744 Jolliffe married Mary, daughter and co-heir of

Samuel Holden Samuel Holden (1675–1740) was an English merchant, politician, and nonconformist activist. Life The son of Joseph Holden by his second wife Priscilla Watt, he was employed when still young by the Russia Company at Riga. He became a successful ...

(a former MP for East Looe). They had 3 sons and 1 daughter: *

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

(1745–1802), who was MP for Petersfield from 1768 to 1802 * Thomas Samuel (1746–1824), MP for Petersfield 1780–87 * Charles, who joined the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

and was killed at the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

* Mary Anne

Career

From Catherine he inherited land in the town of

Petersfield Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth. The town has its own railway station on the Portsmouth Direct line, the mainline rail link connecting Portsmouth a ...

in Hampshire, which brought control of one of the borough's two parliamentary seats. He used that to return his uncle Sir William Jolliffe as MP in 1734, and then bought the manor of Petersfield from

Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English historian, writer, and member of parliament. His most important work, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788, is k ...

, which gave him control of the second seat. He sat as MP for Petersfield from 1741 to 1754, and again from 1761 to 1768. From 1738 to 1751 he was

Receiver-General of the Duchy of Lancaster The Keeper of the Privy Purse and Treasurer to the King/Queen (or Financial Secretary to the King/Queen) is responsible for the financial management of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. The officeholder is assisted by th ...

. In 1771 he donated a house and garden to be used as a poor house in Petersfield.

References

1696 births 1771 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1741–1747 British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1761–1768 People educated at Westminster School, London Alumni of University College, Oxford Members of the Middle Temple Members of the Inner Temple

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 * Secon ...

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