SCUDAMORE, John (1727-96), of Kentchurch, Herefs.

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

23 Jan. 1764 - 4 July 1796

Family and Education

bap. 30 Oct. 1727, 1st s. of Richard Scudamore of Rowlstone, Herefs.  educ. L. Inn 1746.  m. 26 Aug. 1756, Sarah, da. and h. of Daniel Westcombe of Enfield, Mdx., 2s. 1da.  suc. to estates of cos. William Scudamore of Kentchurch 1741.

Offices Held

Biography

John Scudamore’s family, one of the oldest in Herefordshire, had long had an interest both in the county and in the borough of Hereford. Scudamore was returned for Hereford after a contest in 1764, but at all his subsequent elections was unopposed. In Parliament he voted with the Opposition on general warrants on 15 and 18 Feb. 1764, and appears in Jenkinson’s list of 18 Feb. of Government supporters who had voted with Opposition. But Newcastle’s list of 10 May 1764 counts him as a ‘sure friend’ and Rockingham’s lists of July 1765 and November 1766 also class him as a friend. He voted with Opposition on the land tax, 27 Feb. 1767, but Newcastle on 2 Mar. listed him as ‘doubtful or absent’. He did not vote on nullum tempus, 17 Feb. 1768. During the next Parliament all his recorded votes were with Opposition, and he continued to vote with them till the fall of North. Only two speeches by Scudamore are reported: on 18 Feb. 1772 when he gave information about the Monmouthshire by-election, and on 8 Mar. 1780 to present a petition from his constituents. He did not vote on Shelburne’s peace preliminaries, 18 Feb. 1783, but in Robinson’s list of March 1783 he was classed as a follower of Fox. He voted for parliamentary reform on 7 May 1783 (and again on 18 Apr. 1785) and for Fox’s East India bill, 27 Nov. 1783. In all three lists of 1784 Scudamore was counted as an opponent of Pitt, and during the 1784 Parliament he regularly voted with Opposition.

He died 4 July 1796.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: Mary M. Drummond

Notes