John Fenton-Cawthorne
Born5 January 1753 (1753-01-05)
Died1 March 1831(1831-03-01) (aged 78)
OccupationBritish Member of Parliament

John Fenton-Cawthorne (5 January 1753 – 1 March 1831) was a British Tory politician, who served as MP for Lincoln between 1783 and 1796 and as MP for Lancaster for four terms in the early 19th century.[1]

Fenton-Cawthorne was born in 1753 to Elizabeth née Cawthorne and James Fenton of Lancaster, a barrister, and educated at Queen's College, Oxford (1771) and Gray's Inn (1792). He succeeded to the Cawthorne estate in 1781 and took the additional surname of Cawthorne.

He was first elected as an MP for Lincoln in January 1783 and was an opponent of the abolition of the slave trade.[2]

On 27 November 1795, as Colonel of the Westminster Regiment of the Middlesex Militia, Fenton-Cawthorne was arraigned before a court-martial on 14 charges including that of embezzling "marching guineas" paid to militiamen of the British Army. Found guilty on seven of the charges, he was cashiered as "unworthy of serving His Majesty in any military capacity whatever"[3][4] having "acted fraudulently and in a scandalous and infamous manner".[2]

Fenton-Cawthorne returned to Parliament in 1806 as MP for Lancaster. His older brother also entered Parliament at the same time as MP for Fife.

He married Frances Delaval (1759–1838), the daughter and coheiress of John Delaval, 1st Baron Delaval.

Fenton-Cawthorne died on 1 March 1831 in Hanover Street, Hanover Square, London.[5]

References

  1. ^ History of Parliament Trust; Thorne, R.G. (1986). The House of Commons, 1790-1820. Published for the History of Parliament Trust by Secker & Warburg. ISBN 9780436521010.
  2. ^ a b Cobbett, W.; Wright, J.; Hansard, T.C.; Great Britain. Parliament (1818). The Parliamentary History of England, from the Earliest Period to the Year 1803: From which Last-mentioned Epoch it is Continued Downwards in the Work Entitled "Hansard's Parliamentary Debates". T.C. Hansard.
  3. ^ Anon, A Copy of the Proceedings of a Court Martial Holden for the Trial of John Fenton Cawthorne, Esq; Colonel of the Westminster Regiment of Middlesex Militia, Parliamentary Papers 1796, 2nd Edn 1807; 2010 reprint: Farmington, MI: Gale Making of the Modern Law Print Editions: Trials, 1600–1926, ISBN 978-1-27549380-3.
  4. ^ James, Charles (1820). A Collection of the Charges, Opinions, and Sentences of General Courts Martial: As Published by Authority; from the Year 1795 to the Present Time; Intended to Serve as an Appendix to Tytler's Treatise on Military Law, and Forming a Book of Cases and References; with a Copious Index. T. Egerton. pp. 1–21.
  5. ^ "Births, Marriages, and Deaths". Chester Courant. 8 March 1831. Retrieved 20 December 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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