John Williams (born 1736) was an English politician. He was MP for

Saltash Saltash () is a town and civil parish in south Cornwall, England. It had a population of 16,184 in 2011 census. Saltash faces the city of Plymouth over the River Tamar and is popularly known as "the Gateway to Cornwall". Saltash’s landmarks ...

in 1772. He was the son of John and Sarah Williams, of

Nevis Nevis ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. Nevis and the neighbouring island of Saint Kitts constitute the Saint Kitts and Nevis, Federation of Saint Kitts ...

, and was baptised on 21 November 1736. He is recorded as being a resident of

Brook Street Brook Street is an axial street in the exclusive central London district of Mayfair. Most of it is leasehold estate, leasehold, paying ground rent to and seeking lease renewals from the reversioner, that since before 1800, has been the Grosven ...

, London, and as having married Charlotte Mary Thornhill on 9 October 1766. He stood for the constituency of Saltash in May 1772, defeating Thomas Bradshaw, who contested the result.

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (; 24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English Whig politician, writer, historian and antiquarian. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London ...

wrote that Williams was a "West Indian", who had been elected by bribery. He held the seat for only two months, before Bradshaw's petition against him succeeded.Stanley T. Bindoff, John S. Roskell, Lewis Namier, Romney Sedgwick, David Hayton, Eveline Cruickshanks, R. G. Thorne, P. W. Hasler (1982), ''The House of Commons: 1509 - 1558; 3, Members N - Z, Volume 4'', p. 644. During this time he spoke twice in the

Commons The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons ...

, once to assert his readiness to submit the election to an investigation, and again to speak on the subject of African trade. A John Williams unsuccessfully contested the seat of

Fowey Fowey ( ; , meaning ''beech trees'') is a port town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town has been in existence since well before the Norman invasion, ...

in 1768, and

Poole Poole () is a coastal town and seaport on the south coast of England in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area in Dorset, England. The town is east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east ...

in 1774, though this may have been a different person.

References

1736 births British MPs 1768–1774 Year of death missing Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for constituencies in Cornwall {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub