https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Josias_Du_Pr%C3%A9_PorcherJosias Du Pré Porcher - Revision history2026-08-01T02:38:32ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Josias_Du_Pr%C3%A9_Porcher&diff=292456&oldid=prev->SunDawn at 16:42, 20 March 20212021-03-20T16:42:23Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|British politician}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}}<br />
{{Use British English|date=November 2016}}<br />
'''Josias Du Pré Porcher''' (''ca.'' 1761 – 4 May 1820) was an English politician. After following his uncle into the service of the [[British East India Company]], he became wealthy and returned to England, although he was frustrated in an attempt to obtain a directorship of the company. His wealth and his friendship with [[Du Pre Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon|Lord Caledon]] enabled him to sit in Parliament for various boroughs until 1818, although he was not a particularly conspicuous member. He died at his country home in Devonshire in 1820.<br />
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==Childhood and Indian career==<br />
Born about 1761, Josias was the third son of Paul Porcher, a planter of Charleston, South Carolina, and his wife Esther Du Pré. Esther was the sister of [[Josias Du Pré]], an East India merchant. Porcher moved to England in 1768 under the patronage of his uncle Josias, who was [[President of Madras]] from 1770 to 1773. Porcher not unnaturally took up a career in India as well, and became a writer of the [[British East India Company]] in Madras in 1778. He received a legacy of £1,000 at the death of his uncle in 1780.<ref name="hop">{{HistoryofParliament|1790|first=R. G. |last=Thorne | title=PORCHER, Josias Du Pré (?1761-1820), of Hillingdon House, Mdx. and Winslade House, Devon | url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/porcher-josias-du-pratildecopy-1761-1820}}</ref>{{efn|''History of Parliament'' says he inherited in 1778, but cites a source consistent with the death of his uncle in 1780.}}<br />
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From 1783 to 1786, he was deputy to the deputy paymaster in Madras, and in 1785, was made a senior merchant. In 1790, he was appointed to the company's Board of Trade and was made clerk to the committee of works. Porcher served as mayor of Madras from 1791 to 1792 and was appointed military storekeeper at Madras in the latter year.<ref name="hop" /><br />
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Porcher returned home in 1796, bearing a diamond sword presented by the [[Umdat ul-Umara|nawab of Arcot]] to the [[George IV of the United Kingdom|Prince of Wales]]. He invested £2,000 in the 1797 loyalty loan. Porcher sought to become a director of the East India Company with the aid of the Alexander family, who had achieved prominence through a fortune also made in India. His uncle Josias had married Rebecca Alexander, sister of [[James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon]] and aunt of Caledon's nephews [[Henry Alexander (Irish politician)|Henry]] and [[James Alexander (1769–1848)|James]]. Henry, a schoolmate of Porcher's, recommended him to [[Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester|Thomas Pelham]] as a friend of the family, and Porcher assured Pelham of his attachment to government and his friendship with [[Robert Hobart, 4th Earl of Buckinghamshire|Lord Hobart]]. However, Porcher did not receive a directorship, and later joined James Alexander and Edward Fletcher as partners in founding Porcher & Co., a firm of East India agents in 1804.<ref name="hop" /><br />
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==In Parliament ==<br />
In 1802, he loaned £25,000 to [[Thomas Pitt, 2nd Baron Camelford]] for six years in exchange for a Parliamentary seat, and was duly returned for Pitt's borough of [[Bodmin (UK Parliament constituency)|Bodmin]]. In the same year, he also brokered the purchase of the burgages of [[Old Sarum (UK Parliament constituency)|Old Sarum]] from Camelford by [[Du Pre Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon]]. He was Member of Parliament for [[Bletchingley (UK Parliament constituency)|Bletchingley]] from 1806 to 1807, for [[Dundalk (UK Parliament constituency)|Dundalk]] in 1807, and for [[Old Sarum (UK Parliament constituency)|Old Sarum]] from 1807 to 1818.<ref name="hop" /><br />
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He was a [[Gentleman of the Privy Chamber]] from 1818 to his death in 1820. He married, on 1 Nov. 1787 at Fort George, Madras, Charlotte, the daughter of Admiral [[Sir William Burnaby, 1st Baronet]] of Broughton Hall, Oxfordshire. They had 4 sons and a daughter.<ref name="hop" /><br />
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== Notes ==<br />
{{notelist}}<br />
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== References ==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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{{s-start}}<br />
{{s-par|uk}}<br />
{{s-bef<br />
| before = [[Sir John Morshead, 1st Baronet|Sir John Morshead, Bt]]<br />
| before2 = [[Charles Shaw-Lefevre (1759-1823)|Charles Shaw-Lefevre]]<br />
}}<br />
{{s-title<br />
| title = [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Bodmin (UK Parliament constituency)|Bodmin]]<br />
| years = [[1802 United Kingdom general election|1802]]–[[1806 United Kingdom general election|1806]]<br />
| with = [[John Sargent (1750-1831)|John Sargent]] 1802–1806<br />
| with2 = [[James Topping (MP)|James Topping]] August – November 1806<br />
}}<br />
{{s-aft<br />
| after = [[Davies Gilbert|Davies Giddy]]<br />
| after2 = [[William Wingfield (MP)|William Wingfield]]<br />
}}<br />
<br />
{{s-bef<br />
| before = [[Nicholas Ridley-Colborne, 1st Baron Colborne|Nicholas Ridley-Colborne]]<br />
| before2 = [[Sir John Walsh, 1st Baronet|Sir John Benn Walsh, Bt]]<br />
}}<br />
{{s-title<br />
| title = [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Bletchingley (UK Parliament constituency)|Bletchingley]]<br />
| years = [[1806 United Kingdom general election|1806]]–1807<br />
| with = [[William Kenrick (1774–1829)|William Kenrick]]<br />
}}<br />
{{s-aft<br />
| after = [[William Kenrick (1774–1829)|William Kenrick]]<br />
| after2 = [[John Alexander Bannerman]]<br />
}}<br />
<br />
{{s-bef | before = [[John Metge]] }}<br />
{{s-title<br />
| title = [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Dundalk (UK Parliament constituency)|Dundalk]]<br />
| years = January – [[1807 United Kingdom general election|May 1807]]<br />
}}<br />
{{s-aft | after = [[Patrick Crawford Bruce]] }}<br />
<br />
{{s-bef<br />
| before = [[Andrew Blayney, 11th Baron Blayney|The Lord Blayney]]<br />
| before2 = [[Nicholas Vansittart, 1st Baron Bexley|Nicholas Vansittart]]<br />
}}<br />
{{s-title<br />
| title = [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Old Sarum (UK Parliament constituency)|Old Sarum]]<br />
| years = [[1807 United Kingdom general election|1807]]–[[1818 United Kingdom general election|1818]]<br />
| with = [[Nicholas Vansittart, 1st Baron Bexley|Nicholas Vansittart]] 1807–1812<br />
| with2 = [[James Alexander (1769–1848)|James Alexander]] 1812–1818<br />
}}<br />
{{s-aft<br />
| after = [[James Alexander (1769–1848)|James Alexander]]<br />
| after2 = [[Arthur Johnston Crawford]]<br />
}}<br />
{{s-end}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Porcher, Josias}}<br />
[[Category:1761 births]]<br />
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]<br />
[[Category:1820 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies]]<br />
[[Category:UK MPs 1802–1806]]<br />
[[Category:UK MPs 1806–1807]]<br />
[[Category:UK MPs 1807–1812]]<br />
[[Category:UK MPs 1812–1818]]<br />
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Louth constituencies (1801–1922)]]<br />
[[Category:Members of Parliament for Old Sarum]]<br />
[[Category:Mayors of Chennai]]<br />
[[Category:British East India Company people]]<br />
[[Category:Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber]]</div>->SunDawn