Nat Gould

John King 1759-1830

John King was born in 1759, the fifth son of the Reverend James King, curate of Clitheroe in Lancashire and his wife nee Anne Walker, daughter and co-heiress of John Walker of Hungrill, Bolton-by-Bowland in Yorkshire. He was baptised on 23 May 1759 at Clitheroe. His father later became later chaplain to House of Commons and Dean of Raphoe in Ireland.

He was educated at Christ Church in Oxford from 1777, matriculating in 1777 and graduating Bachelor of Arts in 1781 and Master of Arts in 1784. He went on to study law at both Lincoln's Inn from 1781 and Gray's Inn from 1790, being called to the Bar in 1790 (1).

Coates Castle

He was appointed a Law Clerk in the Home Office in January 1791 and held that office until March 1806. He became Under Secretary of State in the Home Office in December 1791 (2), Secretary to the Treasury in 1806, Comptroller of Army Accounts in 1806, High Bailiff of Westminster 1796, Naval Officer, Jamaica 1796-1818, and Bencher of Gray's Inn in 1813 and Treasurer in 1815. He was Member of Parliament in 1806 for the Irish borough of Enniskillen (3).

He built Coates Castle near Fittleworth in Sussex in 1820 (4). His London address was Grosvenor Place.

His brother the Reverend Walker King was private secretary to the Marquess of Rockingham at the Home Office in 1782 and was the friend of Edmund Burke. He became Bishop of Rochester in 1809 (5). Another brother the Reverend Thomas King was tutor to Burke’s son Richard (6). He became a Prebendary of Canterbury Cathedral and Chancellor of Lincoln (7).

On 9 April 1792 John King married Harriot Margaret Moss, daughter of the Right Reverend Charles Moss, Bishop of Bath and Wells.
They had four sons and several daughters, including the following children:

John James King. He was born in 1794 and was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. He matriculated on 23 December 1811 aged 17 years and was Student of Christ Church in 1812-1813. He lived at Coates Castle and Preston Candover in Hampshire, and was High Sheriff of Sussex. He died on 19 July 1867 (8).

William Moss King 1795-1864. He married Elizabeth Margaret Coddington at St George's parish church, Hanover Square in London, and became Rector of Long Crichel in Dorset.

Robert King. In 1841 he married Katharine Frances, eldest daughter of Lt. General Sir William Cornwallis Eustace KCH and CB of Sandford Hall, Essex (9).

Anne King. She was married to Thomas Venables. Their son Addington Robert Peel Venables married his cousin Elizabeth Moss King in 1862, and was appointed Bishop of Nassau in the Bahamas in 1863 (10).

Caroline Margaret King. She was married to Lt. General Sir William Cornwallis Eustace (11).

Emily King. She was married to William Henry Harford, son of John Scandrett Harford of Blaise Castle in Gloucestershire and his wife nee Mary Gray.

John King was a diligent senior civil servant, becoming one of those responsible for government administration under William Pitt the younger in the 1790s during the struggle against the French abroad and radicals in England. In 1794 he became responsible for the correspondence of the Alien Office, the centre of an intelligence operation in England, Ireland and continental Europe.

John King had an amiable and sociable disposition (12). George Canning wrote of him that he was "one of the worthiest and friendliest and best sort of men in the world" (13). Edmund Burke thought that his "promotion to so honourable and advantageous a situation made us the happiest people in the world" (14).

His tenure of the seat in Parliament was brief. Appointed in March 1806 he resigned in the following July, finding regular attendance at the House of Commons detrimental to his health. He died on 30 March 1830 at his home in Grosvenor Place, London, having attended his office on the previous day (15).

(1) Alumni Oxonienses 1715-1886 volume 2 page 797.
(2) The European magazine, and London Review volume 20 (1791) page 478.
(3) For a detailed account of his political career see History of Parliament Online Members 1790-1820 R.G. Thorne www.historyofparliamentonline.org and the article in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography S. M. Lee.
(4) He sold Coates Castle in 1858, and it thereafter passed through the hands of several owners. The castle was once the home of Princess Diana's grandmother, Countess Cynthia Spencer, and was visited by Winston Churchill and Kaiser Wilhelm II. It was converted into flats and became dilapidated, but has recently been restored: The Argus (Brighton, Sussex) 2 January 2004.
(5) Alumni Oxonienses 1715-1886 volume 2 page 795.
(6) Many references to John King occur in the correspondence of Edmund Burke.
(7) Alumni Oxonienses 1715-1886 volume 2 page 796.
(8) Alumni Oxonienses 1715-1886 volume 2 page 797.
(9) Morning Post 6 October 1841; Chelmsford Chronicle 8 October 1841. The marriage took place on 5 May 1841 at St George's church, Hanover Square in London, the service being conducted by his brother the Reverend Moss King.
(10) Addington Venables, Bishop of Nassau William Francis Henry King (1877) chapters 1 and 2.
(11) Burke's Irish Family Records H. Montgomery-Massingberd (1976).
(12) The predominantly rural Canadian township of King is named after him. The land was acquired by the British in an agreement with the Mississaugas, known as the Toronto Purchase, and enacted in British parliament as the Toronto Purchase Act in 1787.
King township is in York Region north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Rural Roots: Pre-Confederation Buildings of the York Region of Ontario M. Byers, J. Kennedy, M. McBurney, and The Junior League of Toronto (1976) page 135.
(13) Letter-Journal page 36.
(14) Burke's Correspondencereference 6.454.
(15) Gentleman's Magazine (1830) volume 1 page 282.