Sir John Verney, (23 October 16995 August 1741) of Compton Verney, Warwickshire, was a
British barrister, judge and Tory and then Whig politician who sat 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. ...
from between 1722 and 1741.
Early life
Verney was born in
Brasted,
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
on 23 October 1699, the fifth son of
George Verney, 12th
Baron Willoughby de Broke
Baron Willoughby de Broke is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created by writ in 1491 for Sir Robert Willoughby, of the manor of Broke, part of Westbury, Wiltshire, who according to modern doctrine was ''de jure'' 9th Baron Latime ...
and his wife Margaret Heath, daughter of Sir John Heath of Brasted.
He matriculated at
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at ...
on 11 October 1714, aged 15,
and was admitted 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 ...
in 1715. He was
called to the Bar ex gratia in 1721. On 16 September 1724 he married Abigail Harley, the daughter of
Sir Edward Harley
Sir Edward Harley, 21 October 1624 to 8 December 1700, was an English politician from Herefordshire. A devout Puritan who fought for Parliament in the First English Civil War, Harley belonged to the moderate Presbyterian faction, which opposed ...
, the younger brother of Queen Anne's Tory minister,
Robert Harley, created Earl of Oxford.
Career
In an attempt to gain contacts for his work as a
barrister, Verney decided to stand for Parliament.
At the
1722 British general election he was returned as
Tory
A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...
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 Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...
(MP) for
Downton with the help of his brother-in-law,
Anthony Duncombe. He spoke on 22 January 1724 against the Government of the
Whig Prime Minister
Robert Walpole on a motion for maintaining the existing strength of the army. In 1726 he switched sides, and supported the government on a similar motion on 28 January 1726. At the end of the year he was rewarded by being appointed a Welsh judge as 2nd justice of Brecon circuit. He was returned as MP after the consequential by-election, and a few days he spoke for the Government on an opposition motion about sending a fleet to the Baltic. In 1727 he became a
King's Counsel
In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...
. At the
1727 British general election he stood again at Downton and also at
Radnor as a backup. He was unsuccessful at Radnor, but was returned again for Downton. In 1728 he was made a Bencher at
Lincoln's Inn, having switched Inns some time earlier.
[
Verney spoke in a financial debate on 4 March 1728 but he apparently displayed gross ignorance in a ridiculous contribution. In May 1729 he was made Attorney General to the Queen Consort, Queen Caroline. In 1730 and 1731 he spoke in support of the Hessians and against a petition to abolish the ]East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sout ...
's monopoly. He resigned from his Welsh post in 1732 because of ill-health, but accepted an appointment as Chief Justice of Cheshire. On 8 February 1733 he opposed the receipt of a petition from the York Buildings Society stating that ‘the law would redress any abuses of this nature’, but the House did not take his advice.[
At the 1734 British general election Verney stood aside at Downton as the seat was taken by Duncombe for himself. He was again defeated at Radnor and so was out of Parliament.][ After the death of Sir ]Joseph Jekyll
Sir Joseph Jekyll (166319 August 1738), of Westminster, was a British barrister, judge and Whig politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons for 40 years from 1697 to 1738. He became Master of the Rolls in 1717.
Early lif ...
on 19 August 1738, Verney applied to succeed him as Master of the Rolls
The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales and Head of Civil Justice. As a judge, the Master of ...
, and was accepted after the position was turned down by Sir John Strange. He took office on 9 October 1738, and was sworn in on 12 October. After a few years, his ill-health made it impossible to continue as Master of the Rolls, and he offered his resignation to the Lord Chancellor
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. T ...
in early 1741. At the 1741 British general election he was returned again for Downton, but died before Parliament met.[
]
Death and legacy
Verney died on 5 August 1741 leaving a son and two daughters.[ His son John, succeeded his childless uncle (Verney's brother) as ]Baron Willoughby de Broke
Baron Willoughby de Broke is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created by writ in 1491 for Sir Robert Willoughby, of the manor of Broke, part of Westbury, Wiltshire, who according to modern doctrine was ''de jure'' 9th Baron Latime ...
.
References
Bibliography
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verney, John
1699 births
1741 deaths
English King's Counsel
Knights Bachelor
Masters of the Rolls
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies
Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain
18th-century King's Counsel
Members of Lincoln's Inn
Tory MPs (pre-1834)
Alumni of New College, Oxford
People from Brasted
Younger sons of barons