John Langston ( 1758 – 18 February 1812) was an English

merchant banker A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage, it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in commod ...

and politician. He sat in the

House of Commons of Great Britain The House of Commons of Great Britain was the lower house of the Parliament of Great Britain between 1707 and 1801. In 1707, as a result of the Acts of Union 1707, Acts of Union of that year, it replaced the House of Commons of England and the Pa ...

and its successor the

House of Commons of the United Kingdom 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 memb ...

for most of the years between 1784 and 1807.

Early life and family

Langston was the oldest son of James Langston and his wife Sarah, of Sarsden House in Oxfordshire. In 1784 he married Sarah Goddard, daughter of John Goddard of Woodford Hall, Essex. They had one son ( James Langston) and four daughters.

Inheritance

Langston was probably educated at Eton. He had a generous inheritance from his father, who died in 1795. As well as being a wine merchant in London, James Langston was a deputy governor of the Bank of England and founder of the

merchant bank A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage, it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in comm ...

of Langston, Towgood and Amory. John inherited a partnership in the bank, shares in the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

, the Sarsden and Churchill estates in Oxfordshire, and £300,000 (equivalent to £ in ).

Career

Langston was a director of the Sun Fire Office from 1794 until his death. He aimed to buy himself a place in Parliament, but never found a

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both. With such seats, there is very little chance of a seat changing h ...

. At the 1784 election he was returned after a contest as a Member of Parliament (MP) for

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario ** Sudbury (federal electoral district) ** Sudbury (provincial electoral district) ** Sudbury Airport ** Sudbury Basin, a meteorite impact cra ...

, an open borough with a reputation for venality where the government backed his candidacy. At the next election, in 1790, he contested

Bridgwater Bridgwater is a historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. The town had a population of 41,276 at the 2021 census. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies along both sid ...

in the interest of the 4th Earl Poulett. The

Earl of Egmont Earl of Egmont was a title in the Peerage of Ireland, created in 1733 for John Perceval, 1st Viscount Perceval. It became extinct with the death of the twelfth earl in 2011. History The Percevals claimed descent from an ancient Anglo-Norman ...

had funded his son Viscount Perceval to contest the seat, but Langston and Poulett's brother Vere won by a comfortable margin. Having joined the opposition, Langston was no longer acceptable to Poulett, so he turned instead to

Minehead Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, north-west of the county town of Taunton, from the boundary with the county of Devon and close to the Exmoor National Park. T ...

, where opposition was mounting to the "overbearing conduct" of the borough's patron John Fownes Luttrell, whose Dunster Castle-based family had dominated the borough for most of the period since its 16th-century enfranchisement. Langston bought some building land in Alcombe, within the borough, from a Quaker William Davis who had advertised for a wealthy challenger. There he rapidly built some houses to register voters, and nominated himself and his wife's brother-in-law Admiral Charles Morice Pole. At the election in 1796 John Fownes Lutrell held his own seat, but Langston defeated his brother

Thomas Fownes Luttrell Thomas Fownes Luttrell (10 February 1763 – 19 January 1811) from Dunster Castle in Somerset was an English officer in the British Army and briefly a Tory politician. Like many previous generations of Luttrells since the 16th century, he was ...

. Luttrell rallied his support by the next election in 1802, and defeated Langston, whose illegal

treating In law and politics, treating is the act of serving food, drink, and other refreshments to influence people for political gain, often shortly before an election. In various countries, treating is considered a form of corruption, and is illegal ...

of voters after the arrival of the

writ In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrant (legal), Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, and ''certiorari'' are commo ...

, had not been enough to win. An

election petition An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

was prepared, but after a period of negotiations, Langston sold all his Minehead interests to Fownes Luttrell. Out of

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, Langston was Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 1804–05. He was returned to the Commons in March 1806 for the Irish

rotten borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or Electoral district, constituency in Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, or the United Kin ...

of Portarlington, whose patron the 2nd Earl of Portarlington accommodated Langston as a favour to the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

. At the general election in 1806, Langston returned to Bridgwater, where he won a contested election with Vere Poulett again returned as his running-mate. However, by

1807 Events January–March *January 7 – The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland issues an Order in Council prohibiting British ships from trading with France or its allies. *January 20 – The Sierra Leone Company, faced with b ...

the earl had disowned his brother's politics, and Langston withdrew. Langston never returned to Parliament, and died in 1812, aged about 54.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Langston, John 1750s births 1812 deaths People from West Oxfordshire District People educated at Eton College English investment bankers Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1784–1790 British MPs 1790–1796 British MPs 1796–1800 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1801–1802 UK MPs 1802–1806 UK MPs 1806–1807 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Portarlington High sheriffs of Oxfordshire