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STANWIX, John (1693-1766), of Carlisle, Cumb.
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Biography Detail
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Family and Education
bap. 19 Mar. 1693,1 s. of Rev. John Roos, rector of Widmerpool, Notts., by Matilda, da. of Thomas Stanwix of Carlisle. m. (1) Ann (d. 17 Mar. 1754), da. of Henry Holmes, 1s. 1da. (2) 20 Apr. 1763 (with £12,000), a da. of Marmaduke Sowle of Dublin, s.p. suc. fa. 1704 and to estates of uncle Thomas Stanwix 1725, taking name of Stanwix.
Offices Held
Ensign 1706; lt. 1706; capt. 28 Ft. 1722; maj. 10 Marines 1741; lt.-col. 71 Ft. 1745; half pay 1749; gov. Carlisle 1752-d.; dep. q.m.g. 1754-6; col. 1756; col. comm. 60 Ft. 1756-61, serving with his regt. in America 1756-60; brig.-gen. (America) 1757; maj.-gen. 1759; lt.-gen. 1761; col. 49 Ft. 1761-4; lt. gov. I. of W. 1763-d.; col. 8 Ft. 1764-d.
Alderman, Carlisle; equerry to the Prince of Wales 1749-51.
Biography
Standing as a government supporter for Carlisle in 1741 with the backing of the corporation,2 Stanwix was returned by the mayor, who declared the poll closed before most of his opponent’s supporters had voted. On petition he came to a compromise with his defeated opponent, John Hylton, that Hylton was ‘to come in on terms of indemnity to the mayor’.3 Returned at a by-election in 1746, he was listed in 1747 as Opposition and in 1749 was appointed to the Prince of Wales’s household. On Frederick’s death, according to the 2nd Lord Egmont, he ‘declared to the Court ... that he had been long tired with the minority, and would never give another vote against them as long as he lived or the first vote he gave should be with them, for which the courtiers expressed great contempt for him’.4 When the appointments to the Princess’s household were discussed, he was ruled out on the ground that the King ‘dislikes Stanwix extremely’.5 However, in 1752 Pelham recommended him for the post of governor of Carlisle, writing on 17 July to Newcastle at Hanover, ‘if I remember right the King desired to be put in mind of Stanwix when anything happened in the military way ... I think him a very nice man, at least as much so as any in the army’.6 He was drowned, probably on 29 Oct. 1766, with his wife and daughter, on the way back to England from Ireland.
