TEMPEST, John (?1740-94), of Wynyard, co. Dur.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1768 - 13 Aug. 1794

Family and Education

b. ?1740, o.s. of John Tempest of Sherburn and Wynyard by Frances, da. of Richard Shuttleworth of Gawthorpe Hall, Lancs. educ. Westminster 1750; Emmanuel, Camb. 21 Oct. 1758, aged 18. m. 25 May 1767, Anne, da. of Joseph Townsend of Honington, Warws., 1s. d.v.p. suc. fa. 1776.

Offices Held

Mayor, Hartlepool 1788-9.

Biography

Tempest, who voted with the opposition to Pitt after the failure of the St. Alban’s Tavern venture in 1784, was returned unopposed for Durham for the fifth successive general election in 1790. He voted against government on Oczakov, 12 Apr. 1791, but is not known to have done so thereafter, though he was listed favourable, the same month, to repeal of the Test Act in Scotland. He was listed among Members ‘supposed attached’ to the Duke of Portland in December 1792 and was thought of for the ‘third party’ in February 1793. According to one list, he attended their meeting on the 10th, but his name does not appear on a subsequent list of those who turned up either then or on the 17th. He is not known to have spoken in the House after 1790.

After the death of his only son in January 1793, as a result of which he was excused from obeying a call of the House, 7 Mar., he left his estates, which included lucrative coal mines and were said to make him ‘a commoner of nearly the first landed property in England’, to his nephew Henry Vane*. He died 13 Aug. 1794.

CJ, xlviii. 318; Gent. Mag. (1794), ii. 772.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: Winifred Stokes

Notes