Sir William Stapleton 4th Bart.

Year of birth is approximate.

1st son of Sir William Stapleton, 3rd Bt., of Nevis, and Frances daughter and co-heir of Sir James Russell, Governor of Nevis. His grandfather was Sir William Stapleton, who, having been with Charles II in exile, was appointed deputy-governor of Montserrat and captain-general of the Leeward Islands after the Restoration.

Married (1724) Catherine, daughter and heir of William Paul of Braywick, Berkshire and Lady Catherine Fane, daughter of Vere Fane, M.P., 4th Earl of Westmorland.

In the General Election of 1727 (when Stapleton was returned as the MP for Oxfordshire), it is reported that Dr. Stratford of Christ Church said of him that he was 'a West Indian...[who] has but little estate in Oxfordshire, and that by his wife Mrs. Paul'.

He was opposed to the governments of Robert Walpole though his only known speech (in 1733) was to oppose the import of rum from north American colonies into Ireland as being detrimental to the sugar colonies. He was an unofficial member of the committee which drafted the Molasses Act.

Identified as a 'West Indian' MP by Judd.

Died in Bath.

Entry by Eveline Cruickshanks in History of Parliament online; Gerrit P. Judd IV, Members of Parliament 1734-1832 (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1955).

For further sources on the Stapleton family see notes to the entry on Sir Thomas Stapleton 5th bart..