George Hayley (1722-1781) was a British merchant, shipowner, whaler and 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 1774 to 1781.
Life and career
Hayley was the eldest son of George Hayley and his wife Hannah Hopkins. His initial career was that of cordwainer. By 1767 he was an agent importing whale oil from America. He owned three or four South Sea whaling vessels between 1775 and 1781.
He married
Mary Storke, who was sister of
John Wilkes
John Wilkes (17 October 1725 – 26 December 1797) was an English Radicalism (historical), radical journalist and politician, as well as a magistrate, essayist and soldier. He was first elected a Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlese ...
and widow of Samuel Storke Jr., a merchant of London.
Hayley was elected
Member of Parliament for
City of London
The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...
at the
1774 general election. He also became an
alderman
An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...
in 1774 and was a
sheriff of London
Two Sheriffs of the City of London are elected annually by the members of the City livery companies. Today's Sheriffs have only ceremonial duties, but the historical officeholders held important judicial responsibilities. They have attended the ...
in 1775–6. He was also President of
Lloyd’s of London.
[Clayton & Clayton, p.76.] He was returned as MP for the City at the
1780 general election. He was a poor speaker and his main concern was on behalf of merchants trading with America.
[
Hayley died on 30 August 1781.][
]
Notes
References
Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayley, George
1722 births
Date of birth unknown
1781 deaths
Sheriffs of the City of London
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies
British MPs 1774–1780
British MPs 1780–1784
British people in whaling
18th-century British merchants