STAPYLTON, John (c.1683-1733), of Myton-upon-Swale, Yorks.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1705 - 1708

Family and Education

b. c.1683, 1st s. of Sir Brian Stapylton, 2nd Bt.*  educ. St. Edmund Hall, Oxf. matric. 12 June 1702, aged 18.  m. c.1707, Mary, da. and h. of Francis Sandys of Scroby, Notts., 8s. 5da.  suc. fa. as 3rd Bt. 23 Nov. 1727.1

Offices Held

Biography

Described as ‘a very honest H[igh] Church of England man’, Stapylton was the nephew of Sir Arthur Kaye, 3rd Bt.*, and a friend of Sir John Bland, 4th Bt.* Stapylton’s marriage was regarded by Strype, the antiquarian, as part of the workings of ‘the wonderful providence of God’, as his wife was heir to Scroby, the seat of Edwin Sandys, archbishop of York under Elizabeth I, who had accused Sir Robert Stapylton, Stapylton’s ancestor, of blackmailing him into granting favourable leases of land in the archdiocese. A prosecution brought by the archbishop had forced Sir Robert to part with an estate worth £2,000 p.a. These circumstances had caused a longstanding feud between the two families, which was healed by John Stapylton’s marriage. Stapylton was returned on his father’s interest at Boroughbridge in 1705. He voted against the Court candidate for Speaker on 25 Oct. However, apart from a procedural tellership on 21 Dec., he appears to have been inactive during the 1705–8 Parliament. He was classed as a Tory in an analysis of the Parliament in early 1708, but he did not stand in the election of that year, his father choosing to return to Parliament. However, Stapylton still took an active interest in elections, campaigning for Sir Arthur Kaye in the 1710 county election.2

Stapylton was defeated at Boroughbridge at a by-election in 1718, after which he did not stand for Parliament again. In 1721–2 his name was included in a list of possible supporters of the Pretender, on which he was noted as one of the Yorkshire gentlemen who had been encouraged to invest in the South Sea scheme by John Aislabie*. In subsequent years he became involved in litigation over his earlier investments in South Sea stock, losing a case against Lord Shelburne (Henry Petty†), and an action against Sir Marmaduke Wyvill, 5th Bt.* Stapylton died on 24 Oct. 1733 from a fall from his horse on his way to the county meeting at York where he was to be adopted as the Tory candidate for Yorkshire at the next general election. His eldest son, Miles, who was returned in his stead, inherited the bulk of the estate, though provision was made for raising £6,000, to be divided among the nine other surviving children. Miles sold the Boroughbridge burgages to the Duke of Newcastle in 1739, and later went over to the Whigs.3

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

  • 1. Camb. Univ. Lib. Add. 6, ff. 357–8.
  • 2. Ibid.; HMC Portland, vi. 10; DNB (Sandys, Edwin); Add. 24475, f. 137; Bodl. Carte 230, ff. 225–6.
  • 3. P. S. Fritz, Ministers and Jacobitism 1715–45, p. 155; Add. 36148, ff. 67, 69; Procs. Leeds Phil. Soc. vii. 53–83, 137–9; Borthwick Inst. York, wills, prerog. ct. Mar. 1734; T. Lawson-Tancred, Recs. of a Yorks. Manor, 273.