CLAVERING, John (1698-1762), of Chopwell, co. Dur.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1727 - May 1731
1734 - 1741

Family and Education

bap. 19 July 1698, o. surv. s. of John Clavering of Chopwell, being o.s. by his 2nd w. Elizabeth, da. and coh. of Thomas Hardwick of Potter Newton, Yorks.; bro.-in-law of William Cowper, M.P., 1st Earl Cowper, the ld. chancellor, and uncle of the 2nd Earl. unm.

Offices Held

Groom of the bedchamber to the King 1731-61.

Biography

John Clavering, of an old Durham family,1 was returned as a Whig for Great Marlow, though a stranger to the town, with the support of Walpole and a ‘flying squadron’ managed by George Bruere, a former Member. The petition against him by Sir John Guise was unsuccessful. In Parliament he voted with the Administration but did not stand for re-election when appointed groom of the bedchamber in May 1731. He was, however, again returned in 1734 on Richard Edgcumbe’s interest at Penryn, where he was defeated by one vote only in 1741. His petition was abandoned in February 1742 after Walpole’s fall. He retained his court appointment until the accession of George III, when he ‘refused to sit up with the body [of George II] and was dismissed by the King’s order’.2 He died 23 May 1762, leaving his estates and name to his nephew William, 2nd Earl Cowper.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: R. S. Lea

Notes

  • 1. Surtees, Durham, ii. 280.
  • 2. Walpole to Montagu, 13 Nov. 1760.