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John Yorke (1728–1801)

English barrister and politician (1728-1801)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 25, 2026
Entity authorityQ20967007 ↗
Source-derived summary

John Yorke (1728–1801) was an English barrister and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1753 to 1784.

Life

Yorke was the fourth son of Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke and his wife Margaret Cocks. Educated at Newcome's School, he matriculated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge in 1746, graduating M.A. in 1749. Admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1746, he was called to the bar in 1754.

Yorke held a number of legal sinecures, secured for him by his father as Lord Chancellor. In 1753 he was offered the parliamentary seat of Higham Ferrers, by Lord Rockingham, against his father's plans, and took it up. In practice he neglected the House of Commons, is not known to have spoken there, and lived much with his parents at Wimpole. He transferred in 1768 to the Reigate seat, which his brother Charles had given up, and retired as Member of Parliament in 1784.

Yorke owned The Cedars, a prominent house in Sunninghill, Berkshire. He sold the house to the antiquary George Ellis.

Editorial summary

“John Yorke (1728–1801)” enters the record as english barrister and politician (1728-1801). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what John, Yorke and English can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1728, 1801, 1753, 1784—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1728. Its strongest next move is a source search built around John, Yorke and English.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“John Yorke (1728–1801)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, John, Yorke and English provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q20967007. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1728, 1801, 1753 and 1784.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “John Yorke (1728–1801)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow John Yorke (1728–1801) primary sources, John Yorke (1728–1801) archive and John research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “John Yorke (1728–1801)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.