POCHIN, William (1731-98), of Barkby Hall, Leics.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754-1790, ed. L. Namier, J. Brooke., 1964
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1780 - 10 Sept. 1798

Family and Education

b. 7 Apr. 1731, 1st s. of Thomas Pochin of Barkby by his 2nd w. Mary, da. of Thomas Trollope of Bourne, Lincs.  educ. Clare, Camb. 1750.  unm.

Offices Held

Sheriff, Leics. 1756-7.

Biography

In 1775 Pochin unsuccessfully contested Leicestershire with the support of the Duke of Rutland and the Dissenting interest. In 1780 and 1784 he was returned unopposed on a compromise. In Parliament Pochin was regarded as one of the Rutland group. He voted with the Opposition till the fall of North’s Administration, and supported Shelburne’s peace preliminaries, 18 Feb. 1783. He voted for Pitt’s proposals for parliamentary reform, 7 May 1783, and against Fox’s East India bill, 27 Nov. 1783. In Robinson’s list of January 1784 he was counted as a Pittite; but he was a member of the St. Alban’s Tavern group of independent country gentlemen who attempted to bring about a union between Fox and Pitt. When this failed he supported Pitt, and on 15 July 1784 Daniel Pulteney wrote to Rutland: ‘Your Grace’s Members are the most useful in the House, for I don’t believe Pochin, Sutton, or myself have ever missed a single day.’ On 27 Jan. 1785 Pulteney reported that Pochin had told him that he was against parliamentary reform, and Pochin did not vote with the minority on 18 Apr. 1785. During the debate of February 1786 on Ordnance matters Pulteney told Rutland: ‘Mr. Pochin probably does not know his own mind’; and Pochin did not vote on Richmond’s fortifications plans, 27 Feb. 1786. He supported Pitt over the Regency 1788-9. There is no record of his having spoken in the House.1

He died 10 Sept. 1798.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: I. R. Christie

Notes

  • 1. HMC Rutland, iii. 125, 169, 283-4.