John Kingston MP

Born in Ireland (probably Cork). Wine merchant involved in the Oporto, Portugal trade. One of the first directors of the Sierra Leone Company 1791-1812. Director of Albion Insurance 1805-1820.

The Kingston family has proved hard to disentangle. This is John Kingston (1736-1820) of Grosvenor Street and Oak Hill, MP for Lymington 1802-1814. The entry for him in History of Parliament records his staunch support for the abolition of the slave-trade but ends the entry by noting that his will refers to 'a small [sic] plantation of his in Demerara.' A claim was made for Claremont [sic] in British Guiana by John Kingston 'of Gloucester Place' executor of John Kingston deceased, Edward Egan nom ux. and John Kingston of Copthall Chambers; John Kingston and Edward Egan also counterclaimed as executors of Robert Kingston (q.v.).

1. Will of John Kingston formerly of Oak Hill East Barnet but now of Princes Street Hanover Square proved 08/02/1821. It refers to a deed poll with his late wife Jane executed in 1801. It also refers to his daughters Catharine (the wife of James Brett), Harriet, Sophia, Caroline, his sons John Kingston the younger, Lucy [sic] Henry Kingston (both executors) and Valentine Kingston, and his plantations [sic] in the River Leguan in Essequibo called Clairmont. His other executors were his friend Robert Adamson, a partner in his Oporto wine business, and John Walker of New Inn.

2. His son John Kingston the younger his executor was almost certainly John Kingston of Clarence Terrace (q.v.) who died c. 1839 and whose will refers to his sister Sophia and to his executor Ellis [Watkin] Cunliffe, who had married Caroline, daughter of John Kingston MP. In the compensation records John Kingston's executor is identified as John Kingston 'of Gloucester Place': a different John Kingston was resident at 81 Gloucester Place in the 1830s, but we believe that in the 1820s John Kingston of Clarence Terrace lived at 69 Gloucester Place, and is the man referred to as the executor of John Kingston. On 19/11/1852, administration of the will of John Kingston formerly of Oak Hill was granted to Valentine Kingston, and John Kingston the son, who had left the will unadministered, was described as 'since deceased.'

3. The grandson of John Kingston MP, William Henry Giles Kingston, the son of Lucy Henry Kingston and Frances Sophia Rooke, is in the ODNB as 'children's writer', but as the entry makes clear he was also a theorist of, and campaigner for, colonisation.

R. G. Thorne, 'Kingston, John of Grosvenor Street and Oak Hill', History of Parliament online

1. PROB 11/1639/180.

2. Will of John Kingston of Clarence Terrace proved 29/10/1839, PROB 11/1917/256.

3. J. A. Hamilton, ‘Kingston, William Henry Giles (1814–1880)’, rev. Diana Dixon, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2011 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15629, accessed 17 Jan 2014]