Henry Johnson (politician, died 1719)

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Sir Henry Johnson (13 August 1661[1] – 29 September 1719) of The Gate House, Blackwall, Middlesex; Bradenham, Buckinghamshire; and Toddington, Bedfordshire was a British shipbuilder and a Member of Parliament for 30 years.

Sir Henry Johnson
Member of Parliament for Aldeburgh
In office
1707–1719
Preceded byParliament of England
Succeeded bySamuel Lowe
Walter Plumer
In office
1689–1707
Serving with William Johnson
Preceded byJohn Bence
Sir Henry Bedingfield
Succeeded byParliament of Great Britain
Personal details
Born(1661-08-31)31 August 1661
Died29 September 1719(1719-09-29) (aged 58)
Bath, Somerset
Spouse(s)
Anne Smithson
(m. 1686, died)

Martha Johnson, 8th Baroness Wentworth
(m. 1693)
RelationsWilliam Johnson (brother)
William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford (grandson)
ChildrenAnne Wentworth, Countess of Strafford
Parent(s)Henry Johnson
Mary Lord

Early life

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He was born the eldest son of Sir Henry Johnson, M.P., of Blackwall and Friston Hall, Suffolk by Dorothy Lord, the daughter and heiress of William Lord of Melton, Kent.[2] Among his siblings were William Johnson and Martha Johnson (who married Hill Mussenden, MP for Harwich and brother to Carteret Leathes).[3]

Career

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Bradenham Manor house

Described as "the greatest shipbuilder and shipowner of his day, having at one time shares in 38 vessels" as well as owning considerable East India Company stock.[2] Later, he had become a bitter opponent of the East India Company and was one of the leading members of the syndicate established in October 1691 to break its monopoly, likely as a result of a dispute with Sir Josiah Child, 1st Baronet.[2]

Johnson succeeded his father in 1683 and was knighted in March 1685. He served as one of the two members of Parliament for Aldeburgh from 1689 to 1719, his younger brother William, who died in 1718, being the other member for all but a year of that time. Upon his death in 1719, he was succeeded as by Walter Plumer after a by-election.[2]

He became an Elder Brother of Trinity House in 1700 and Master from 1707 to 1709.[2]

Personal life

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On 20 May 1686, Johnson married his first wife Anne Smithson, daughter and heiress of London haberdasher Hugh Smithson (third son of Sir Hugh Smithson, 1st Baronet). Before her death, they had one daughter:[2]

On 11 March 1693, he made an advantageous second marriage to Martha Lovelace, who became suo jure the 8th Baroness Wentworth in 1697, daughter and heiress of John Lovelace, 3rd Baron Lovelace and the former Martha Pye. The younger Martha was heiress to some of her father's property in Berkshire; through her grandmother Anne Lovelace, 7th Baroness Wentworth; to Water Eaton in Oxfordshire and Toddington in Bedfordshire and through her maternal grandfather Sir Edmund Pye, 1st Baronet to the Bradenham estate in Buckinghamshire.[2]

Johnson died of gout at Bath on 29 September 1719 and was buried in the Wentworth vault at Toddington. He left his several estates to his granddaughters.[6]

Descendants

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Through his daughter Anne, he was a grandfather of four: William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford; Lady Anne Wentworth (wife of Irish statesman and landowner William James Conolly); Lady Lucy Wentworth (wife of Sir George Howard); Lady Henrietta Wentworth (wife of Henry Vernon of Hilton and mother of Henrietta, Lady Grosvenor).[5]

References

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  1. ^ England & Wales, Christening Index, 1530-1980
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Hayton, D. W. "JOHNSON, Sir Henry (c.1659-1719), of The Gate House, Blackwall, Mdx.; Bradenham, Bucks. and Toddington, Beds". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  3. ^ Sedgwick, Romney R. "MUSSENDEN, Hill (1699-1772), of Herringfleet, Suff". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  4. ^ Rutton, William Loftie (1891). Three Branches of the Family of Wentworth: I. Wentworth of Nettlestead, Suffolk. II. Wentworth of Gosfield, Essex. III. Wentworth of Lillingstone Lovell, Oxfordshire. Mitchell and Hughes. p. 137. ISBN 978-0-608-34075-3. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  5. ^ a b Tague, Ingrid H. (2002). Women of Quality: Accepting and Contesting Ideals of Femininity in England, 1690-1760. Boydell Press. pp. 16, 141–2, 177, 178, 194–5, 198, 223. ISBN 978-0-85115-907-2. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  6. ^ Sedgwick, Romney R. "JOHNSON, Sir Henry (c.1661-1719), of Bradenham, Bucks". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
Parliament of England
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Aldeburgh
1689–1707
With: William Johnson
Succeeded by
Parliament of Great Britain
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
Parliament of England
Member of Parliament for Aldeburgh
1707–1719
With: William Johnson 1707–1718
Samuel Lowe 1718–1719
Succeeded by