{{Short description|English politician (1732-1795)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2014}} {{Use British English|date=November 2014}} '''John Sawbridge''' (1732 – 21 February 1795) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1768 to 1780. thumb|John Sawbridge, 1798 engraving.
==Life== Sawbridge was the eldest son of John Sawbridge, FRS of Olantigh and his wife Elizabeth Wanley, daughter of George Wanley.<ref name=Burke>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ayswAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA211|via=Google Books|first=John|last=Burke|title=History of the Commoners of Great Britain|date=1838|volume=4|pages=211|location=London|publisher=Henry Colburn}}</ref> He was educated at The King's School, Canterbury (left 1748).<ref name="The-King's-Association">[https://kings-association.co.uk/news/oks-kings-association-news/128/128-Florence-King-becomes-Lady-Mayoress-of-the-City-of-London] see 'History of OKS and the City of London'.</ref>
Sawbridge was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Hythe at the 1768 general election,<ref name="stooks-hythe">{{cite book |last=Stooks Smith |first=Henry. |editor=Craig, F. W. S. |editor-link=F. W. S. Craig |title=The Parliaments of England |orig-year=1844-1850 |edition=2nd |year=1973 |publisher=Parliamentary Research Services |location=Chichester |isbn=0-900178-13-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/parliamentsofeng0000smit/page/165 165] }}</ref> and held the seat until 1774.<ref>{{Rayment-hc |h |4 |date=March 2012}}</ref> He exerted himself in the House of Commons on behalf of John Wilkes, who had been declared incapable of sitting for Middlesex. With John Horne Tooke, James Townsend, Richard Oliver, and others, he helped to form the Supporters of the Bill of Rights. In local politics Sawbridge, who was a liveryman of the Framework Knitters' Company, was elected, with Townsend, as sheriff of London in summer 1768, and in the following year (1 July) he was elected alderman for the ward of Langbourn. During his shrievalty he five times returned Wilkes as duly elected for Middlesex, in defiance of the house, and was threatened with a bill of pains and penalties from the government. In August 1771 Junius, in secret correspondence with Wilkes, urged him to procure Sawbridge's election as lord mayor; but Brass Crosby was reported to want re-election, and Wilkes, who had by the quarrelled with Sawbridge, refused to desert Crosby. At the election the show of hands was declared in favour of Sawbridge and Crosby, but a poll was demanded for four other candidates, Bankes, Nash, Hallifax, and Townsend. In spite of Junius's appeals, the livery returned Nash and Sawbridge to the court of aldermen. The former, the ministerial candidate, was elected Lord Mayor.<ref name="DNB">{{cite DNB|wstitle=Sawbridge, John}}</ref>
At the 1774 general election Sawbridge contested two seats: he was defeated in Hythe,<ref name="stooks-hythe" /> but was elected as one of the 4 MPs for the City of London.<ref name="stooks-london">Stooks Smith, page 210</ref> He was defeated in London at the general election in September 1780,<ref name="stooks-london" /> but one of his successors, John Kirkman, who died on the day when the polls closed and had been returned posthumously.<ref name="stooks-london" /> Sawbridge was returned without a contest at the resulting by-election in November 1780,<ref name="stooks-london" /> and was re-elected in 1784<ref>{{London Gazette |issue= 12540 |date=4 May 1784 |page=3}}</ref> and 1790,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue= 13213 |date=26 June 1790 |page=397}}</ref> holding the seat until his death on 21 February 1795, aged 62.<ref>{{Rayment-hc |l |3 |date=March 2012}}</ref> However, he was less active in the parliament of 1790 and was paralysed in the last three years of his life<ref name=hop>[http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/sawbridge-john-1732-95] History of Parliament Online article.</ref>
He was a Sheriff of London in 1770 and elected Lord Mayor of London in 1775 in succession to John Wilkes. He was commissioned as Colonel of the East Kent Militia in 1779 and held the command until his death.<ref name=hop/>
== Family == Sawbridge had married firstly on 15 November 1763 Mary Diana Bridgeman, daughter of Sir Orlando Bridgeman, 2nd Baronet. She died without issue in 1764 and he married secondly Anne Stephenson daughter of Sir William Stephenson.<ref name="Burke" /> His son Samuel Elias Sawbridge was Member of Parliament for Canterbury.
* Samuel Elias Sawbridge (7 January 1769 – 27 May 1850)<ref>''The Register of Births and Baptisms in the Parish of St James within the Liberty of Westminster. 1761-1786''. 18 February 1769.</ref> * Ann Sawbridge (born 20 June 1776)<ref>''The Register of Births and Baptisms in the Parish of St James within the Liberty of Westminster. 1761-1786''. 24 July 1776.</ref> *Wanly Sawbridge (born 9 June 1779)<ref>''The Register of Births and Baptisms in the Parish of St James within the Liberty of Westminster. 1761-1786''. 8 July 1779.</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
;Attribution {{DNB|wstitle=Sawbridge, John}}
==External links==
* {{cite book |last1=Hutchinson |first1=John |title=Men of Kent and Kentishmen |date=1892 |publisher=Cross & Jackman |location=Canterbury |pages=118–119 |edition=Subscription |chapter=John Sawbridge}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|gb}} {{s-bef | before = Lord George Sackville | before2 = William Amherst }} {{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for Hythe | years = 1768–1774 | with = William Evelyn }} {{s-aft | after = Sir Charles Farnaby-Radcliffe, Bt | after2 = William Evelyn }}
{{s-bef | before = Barlow Trecothick | before2 = Thomas Harley | before3 = Frederick Bull | before4 = Richard Oliver }} {{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for the City of London | years = 1774 – Sep. 1780 | with = Richard Oliver | with2 = Frederick Bull | with3 = George Hayley }} {{s-aft | after = John Kirkman | after2 = Nathaniel Newnham | after3 = George Hayley | after4 = Frederick Bull }}
{{s-bef | before = John Kirkman | before2 = Nathaniel Newnham | before3 = George Hayley | before4 = Frederick Bull }} {{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for the City of London | years = Nov 1780 – 1795 | with = George Hayley 1774–81 | with2 = Frederick Bull 1773–84 | with3 = Nathaniel Newnham 1780–90 | with4 = Sir Watkin Lewes 1781–96 | with5 = Brook Watson 1784–93 | with6 = William Curtis 1784–1818 | with7 = John William Anderson from 1793 }} {{s-aft | after = William Lushington | after2 = Sir Watkin Lewes | after3 = William Curtis | after4 = John William Anderson }} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sawbridge, John}} Category:1732 births Category:1795 deaths Category:Sheriffs of the City of London Category:18th-century lord mayors of London Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Category:British MPs 1768–1774 Category:British MPs 1774–1780 Category:British MPs 1780–1784 Category:British MPs 1784–1790 Category:British MPs 1790–1796 Category:Kent Militia officers