Sir John Bland, MP, 5th Baronet Bland of Kippax Park

Family and Education bap. 10 Sept. 1691, o. surv. s. of Sir John Bland, 4th Bt.* educ. Christ Church, Oxf. 1707. m. 16 Oct. 1716 (with £8,000), Frances, da. of Hon. Heneage Finch I*, 1st Earl of Aylesford, sis. of Hon. Heneage Finch II* and Hon. John Finch†, 3s. (1 d.v.p.) 4da. suc. fa. as 5th Bt. 25 Oct. 1715.1

Offices Held

Biography Bland’s entry into public life would seem to have been an adjunct to his education, because in 1711 he joined the retinue of Britain’s plenipotentiaries at Utrecht. By September 1712 his father was organizing his election for the county of Lancashire, which did indeed return him in the following year. The Worsley list and two further comparisons of the 1713 and 1715 Parliaments all classed Bland as a Tory. During the 1714 session he told, on 25 June, against a motion that a Southwark man had the right to vote, after having affirmed rather than take the oath of abjuration. After the death of Queen Anne he seems to have been much engaged in canvassing for the next election, suggesting to Legh that a worthy candidate at Newton might be Sir Christopher Musgrave, 5th Bt.*, in retreat from problems at Carlisle, and paying visits to places such as Preston in October 1714 in order to ensure his own re-election. Bland retained his seat until 1727 when he retired at the early age of 35. His reputation as a Jacobite had led to his arrest in November 1715 and also to his removal from the Lancashire bench. He seems to have shifted the centre of his political activity away from Yorkshire towards the Lancashire estates brought into the family by his mother. He was active in Manchester’s affairs, exhibiting some of his father’s distrust of non-Anglicans in a dispute in 1731 over a projected workhouse in the town. In a further echo of his father and his difficulties in obtaining employment, Bland set out in his will the hope that ‘as it was his warmest desire that no son of his might have any dependence on the government, so he would wish to have a reversion of some patent place for life purchased for his said [second] son Hungerford’. The remainder of the will dwelt on strategies for paying off debts and raising portions for his younger children. He died at Bath on 9 Apr. 1743.2

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715 Authors: Eveline Cruickshanks / Stuart Handley Notes 1. N. Carlisle, Colls. Bland Fam. 51–52. 2. Carlisle, 51; HMC Portland, v. 221; John Rylands Univ. Lib. Manchester, Legh of Lyme mss corresp. Bland to Peter Legh, 7 Sept. 1714; Devonshire mss at Chatsworth House, Finch–Halifax pprs. box. 3, no.107, Richard Assheton to [?Hon. Heneage Finch II], 15 Oct. 1714; CJ, xviii. 328; L. K. J. Glassey, Appt. JPs, 292; Lancs. RO, Kenyon mss DDKe 9/114/5, Bland to Thomas Kenyon and Thomas Pigot, n.d. [1730]; Carlisle, 51–55; Gent. Mag. 1743, p. 208.

Sir John Bland was born circa 1691. He was the son of Sir John Bland, 4th Bt. and Anne Moseley. He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford University, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, on 10 October 1707.

Sir John Bland served in the retinue of the Bishop of Bristol, Lord Privy Seal, and one of Queen Anne's Plenipotentiaries to the conferences at Utrecht in 1711. He held the office of Member of Parliament for Lancashire between 1713 and 1727. He succeeded to the title of 5th Baronet Bland, of Kippax Park, co. York on October 25, 1715. He was a knight of the shire for

In 1715 he was committed to custody on suspicion of high treason. Several members of the House were suspected of treasonous practices and were locked up as "necessary for the preservation of peace of the Kingdom." What these treasonous practices were has never been made clear and the accused were eventually proven innocent.

He married Lady Frances Finch, daughter of Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Aylesford and Elizabeth Banks, on October 16, 1716, with £8,000 portion. He died April 9, 1743 on a journey from Bath to Yorkshire. According to his wishes in his will, he was buried simply at Kippax Park. His will (dated 6 January 1741) was probated in 1744. His title passed to his elder son John.

His will was quite lengthy. It can be read here -- http://www.archive.org/stream/collectionsforhi00carl#page/52/mode/1up -- pages 52 to 56.

Children of Sir John Bland, 5th Bt. and Lady Frances Finch

• Elizabeth Bland
• Anne Bland
• Sir John Bland, 6th Bt. b. c 1722, d. 3 Sep 1755
• Sir Hungerford Bland, 7th Bt. b. c 1726, d. 16 Oct 1756