{{Short description|British politician}} {{About||the Alaska prospector|John Lemon (prospector)|the British logician and philosopher|John Lemmon|the musician|John Lennon}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = File:Colonel_John_Lemon,_MP_of_Truro_(1754_-_1814).jpg | birth_date = {{Birth date|1754|11|6|df=y}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1814|4|5|1754|11|6|df=y}} | constituency_MP = West Looe | parliament = British | term = 1784 | constituency_MP1 = Saltash | parliament1 = British | term_start1 = 1787 | term_end1 = 1790 | constituency_MP2 = Truro | parliament2 = British | term_start2 = 1796 | term_end2 = 1814 | rank = Lieutenant Colonel | unit = Horse Guards }} '''John Lemon''' (6 November 1754 – 5 April 1814) was a British Whig Member of Parliament.
He was born in Truro, the second son of William Lemon by his marriage to Anne, the daughter of John Willyams of Carnanton House, and was the grandson of William Lemon the Elder (1696–1760), who had acquired a substantial estate at Carclew in 1749, and the younger brother of Sir William Lemon, 1st Baronet.<ref>'Sir William Lemon' in ''Annual Biography and Obituary'' (1826), [https://books.google.com/books?id=U24EAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA442 pp. 441-442]</ref><ref>Pamela Dodds, ''Building Country Houses on Cornish Estates 1730–1830'' (2002), [http://www.marjon.ac.uk/cornish-history/conf2002dodds/index.htm paper] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070322081129/http://www.marjon.ac.uk/cornish-history/conf2002dodds/index.htm |date=22 March 2007 }} for Cornish History Network conference</ref><ref>Hugh Pengelly Olivey, ''Notes on the Parish of Mylor'', [http://www.milsom.info/mylor/Olivey/Olivey_C14.htm Section IX - Monuments in Mylor Church and Churchyard] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721224422/http://www.milsom.info/mylor/Olivey/Olivey_C14.htm |date=21 July 2011 }} (1907)</ref>
The young John Lemon was educated at Truro Grammar School<ref>Nicholas Carlisle, ''A concise description of the endowed grammar schools in England'', vol. 1 (1818), [https://books.google.com/books?id=GwsJRFnvUIAC&pg=PA151 p. 151]</ref> and later at Harrow.<ref name=bindoff>Stanley T. Bindoff, John S. Roskell, Lewis Namier, ''The House of Commons'' 3, (1983), p. 34: "LEMON, John (1754–1814), of Truro, Cornw. West Looe 5 Apr.-Aug. 1784 Saltash 7 May 1787-1790 Truro 1796-5 Apr. 1814 b. 6 Nov. 1754, 2nd s. of William Lemon and bro. of William Lemon (qv). educ. Harrow 1770-1."</ref> He became a lieutenant colonel in the Horse Guards.<ref name="Humphreys, Maggie 1997. p 206">Humphreys, Maggie & Evans, Robert, 1997. ''Dictionary of composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland''. London: Mansell. p 206</ref>
On 5 April 1814, he died unmarried in Polvellen, Cornwall.<ref name="Humphreys, Maggie 1997. p 206" />
==Political career== In 1784 he was elected to the House of Commons for West Looe, a seat he held only briefly. He returned to the Commons as a member for Saltash between 1787 and 1790.<ref name=bindoff/> In 1796 he was able to buy from Viscount Falmouth a life interest in one of the seats at the pocket borough of Truro<ref>Roland G. Thorne, ''The House of Commons 1790-1820'' (History of Parliament Trust, 1986), p. 87: "Falmouth seems to have allayed any such fears by selling John Lemon a life interest in the seat in 1796, Lemon being presumably acceptable to his opponents at Truro."</ref> and was duly elected for Truro that year, holding the seat until his death in 1814.<ref name=bindoff/>
On 17 January 1804 Lemon was appointed as one of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, serving for only a month. According to convention, this meant he had to give up his Parliamentary seat on appointment to the Crown Office and seek re-election to his seat at a by-election in February, at which he was re-elected.
==Amateur musician and composer== Lemon was an amateur musician and composer. The ''Cathedral Psalter Chants'' (1874) included his Double Chant in G, while there is also a Chant in D. A Double Chant in F is in ''The Parish Psalter with Chants'' (1932).<ref name="Humphreys, Maggie 1997. p 206"/>
==References== {{Portal|Cornwall}} {{Reflist}} {{S-start}} {{s-par|gb}} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for West Looe | with = John Scott | years = April 1784 – August 1784 | before = John Somers Cocks <br /> John Buller | after = John Scott <br /> James Adams }} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Saltash | with = Charles Ambler | years = 7 May 1787 – 1790 | before = Charles Ambler <br /> Earl of Mornington | after = Edward Bearcroft <br /> Viscount Garlies }} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Truro | with = John Leveson-Gower 1796–1801 | years = 1796–1801 | before = Charles Paulet <br /> James Gordon | after = Parliament of the United Kingdom }} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Truro | with = John Leveson-Gower 1801–02<br />Edward Leveson-Gower 1802–07<br />Edward Boscawen 1807–08<br /> Charles Powlett Townshend 1808–10<br /> William John Bankes 1810–12<br /> Sir George Warrender, Bt 1812–14 | years = 1801 – 5 April 1814 (death) | before = Parliament of Great Britain | after = Sir George Warrender, Bt <br /> George Dashwood }}
{{S-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lemon, John}} Category:1754 births Category:1814 deaths Category:People from Truro Category:People from Saltash Category:People educated at Harrow School Category:People educated at Truro Cathedral School Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for West Looe Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Saltash Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Truro Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Truro Category:British MPs 1784–1790 Category:British MPs 1796–1800 Category:UK MPs 1801–1802 Category:UK MPs 1802–1806 Category:UK MPs 1806–1807 Category:UK MPs 1807–1812 Category:UK MPs 1812–1818 Category:Lords of the Admiralty