John White (2 December 1699 – 7 September 1769), of Wallingwells, Nottinghamshire, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1733 to 1768.
Contents
Early life
White was the eldest son and heir of Thomas White of Tuxford and Wallingwells and his wife Bridget Taylor daughter of Richard Taylor, MP, of Wallingwells. He succeeded to his father's estates, including Wallingwells in Nottinghamshire, at the age of 33 in 1732. A portrait of him as a young man show him as handsome, similar in looks to Prince Charles Edward Stuart.
Career
White was an influential politician of his day. He was returned as Whig Member of Parliament for East Retford at a by-election on 26 January 1733 in succession to his father. He was returned unopposed at the 1734 British general election. He was elected a trustee and a common councillor of the Georgia Society. In 1736, he resigned from the council together with Robert More, though remaining a trustee. He was a professed Dissenter and no friend to church establishment' and disapproved of the Society's policy of appropriating land in Georgia to the endowment of the Church of England. Also in 1736, he spoke and voted against a proposal that Parliament should contribute £4,000 towards the repair of Henry VII's chapel. In 1739 he introduced a motion for the repeal of the Test Act. He voted with the Government on the Spanish convention that year but was absent from the division on the place bill in 1740. He was re-elected at the 1741 British general election, after a costly contest. Due to ill-health, he was absent on the division on the chairman of the elections committee but voted with the Government in all other recorded divisions. He was a supporter of Henry Pelham and the Duke of Newcastle, who were the Prime Ministers between 1744 and 1756. In particular he held sway over the Duke of Newcastle, who was a close friend of both John and his late father, Thomas. Their relationship is seen in a book of letters from the Duke to White.
