{{Short description|British office holder and politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''John Pownall''' (1724–1795) was a British office holder and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1775-76.

==Early life== Pownall was baptised at Lincoln in 1724. He was the second surviving son of William Pownall and his second wife Sarah Burniston, daughter of John Burniston, deputy governor of Bombay.<ref>Stewart Baldwin, "The English Ancestry of George<sup>1</sup> Pownall of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with Notes on Thomas<sup>1</sup> Pownall, Governor of Massachusetts Bay and South Carolina", ''The American Genealogist'', 76(2001):81–93, 217–26; Edward J. Davies, "Further Notes on Governor Thomas<sup>1</sup> Pownall", ''The American Genealogist'', 77(2002):190–94.</ref> He was educated at Lincoln Grammar School. He married Mary Lillingston, daughter of Bowden Lillingston of Ferriby, Yorkshire.<ref name = HOP>{{cite web| url = http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/pownall-john-1720-95 | title= POWNALL, John (1720-95), of Wykeham, Lincs. | publisher= History of Parliament Online| access-date = 1 November 2017}}</ref>

==Administrative career== Pownall became Clerk of the Board of Trade in 1741 and became solicitor and clerk of reports in 1745. He was joint secretary in 1753 and became secretary in 1758, remaining until May 1776.<ref name=HOP/> He was under-secretary of state at the American department from January 1768 to May 1776. He was also a naval officer in Jamaica from 1755 to 1771 when he became provost marshal general of the Leeward Islands. He was for many years Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace for Lincolnshire.<ref name=Bentley>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=CBEUAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA66|page=66 |title= Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century.|author= Samuel Bentley| date=1814| access-date=14 November 2017}}</ref>

==Political career== In November 1775, Pownall was returned as Member of Parliament for St Germans by Edward Eliot in a by-election on 23 November 1775. He probably saw a parliamentary seat as a stepping stone to a profitable post, as in 1776 he was appointed Commissioner of Excise and resigned his seat in May.<ref name=HOP/>

==Later life and legacy== Pownall's post as provost marshal general of the Leeward Islands was also confirmed for life in 1776. In 1785 he became Commissioner of Customs, instead of Excise. He retired from all public posts in 1788 except as a magistrate. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and published several articles on archaeology.<ref name=Bentley/>

Pownall died on 17 July 1795, at Great George Street, Westminster, aged 70. His eldest son Sir George Pownall became a member of the legislative council in Quebec.<ref name=Burke>{{cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/agenealogicalan01burkgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/agenealogicalan01burkgoog/page/n46 18] |title= A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain and Ireland.|author= John Burke| date=1838| access-date=13 November 2017}}</ref>

==Publications==

* Account of a Roman Tile discovered at Reculver Archaeologia, vol. VIII. p.&nbsp;79 * Some Sepulchral Antiquities discovered at Lincoln Archaeologia vol. X. p.&nbsp;345 *Admeasurements of the Keeps of Canterbury and Chilham Castles The Gentleman's Magazine 1794, vol. LX1V. p.&nbsp;999<ref name=Bentley/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-par|gb}} {{s-bef | before = Edward Eliot | before2 = Benjamin Langlois }} {{s-title | title = Member of Parliament for St Germans | years = 1775–1776 | with = Benjamin Langlois }} {{s-aft | after = John Peachey | after2 = Benjamin Langlois }}

{{s-end}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pownall, John}} Category:1724 births Category:1795 deaths Category:People educated at Lincoln Grammar School Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Category:British MPs 1774–1780 Category:Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London