STRANGE, Sir John (c.1696-1754), of Leyton Grange, Essex

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

9 Feb. 1737 - 1741
25 Jan. 1742 - 18 May 1754

Family and Education

b. c.1696, s. and h. of John Strange of Fleet St., London.  educ. M. Temple 1712, called 1718, bencher 1736.  m. Susan, da. and coh. of Edward Strong of Greenwich, ‘blest with a numerous issue of which two sons and seven daughters survived him.’1  Kntd. 12 May 1740.

Offices Held

K.C. 1736; solicitor-gen. 1737-42; recorder of London 1739-42; master of the rolls 1750- d.

Biography

Strange was a Government lawyer, and was provided by them with a seat in Parliament. Before the general election of 1754 he told Henry Pelham, who had offered to bring him in again without expense, that ‘it was very indifferent to him whether he was in Parliament now or on any future vacancy’. But Newcastle, on becoming first lord of the Treasury, persuaded him to change his mind, ‘the King thinking it extremely for his service that the master of the rolls should be in Parliament’.2 Strange was returned for Totnes after a contest, but died on 18 May 1754 before Parliament met.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: John Brooke

Notes

  • 1. Lysons, London (1791), iv. 169.
  • 2. Add. 32734, ff. 239, 316.