JODRELL, Henry (?1750-1814), of Bayfield Hall, Norf.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

26 Oct. 1796 - 1802
1802 - 1812

Family and Education

b. ?1750, 3rd s. of Paul Jodrell of Duffield, Derbys. and Sion Hill, Mdx., solicitor-gen. to Frederick, Prince of Wales, by Elizabeth, da. of Richard Warner of North Elmham, Norf.; bro. of Richard Paul Jodrell*. educ. Eton 1759-64; L. Inn 1768, called 1773. m. 2 Sept. 1802, Johanna Elizabeth, da. of John Weyland of Woodeaton, Oxon., s.p.

Offices Held

Commr. of bankrupts 1783-97; recorder, Great Yarmouth 1792-1813.

Biography

Jodrell, descended from an ancient Derbyshire family, was connected with Norfolk through his mother. A practising barrister, he was recommended to the corporation of Yarmouth for their recordership by Charles Townshend, Member for the borough, who wrote, ‘Jodrell is the fittest person you can have: he has for some years acquitted himself with credit as one of the chairmen of quarter sessions. He is of a quiet and obliging disposition.’1 Upon the death of Lord Charles Townshend immediately after his election in 1796, the corporation again consulted Charles Townshend, who again recommended Jodrell:

You have been witness to his behaviour as recorder, and should he be placed in the more conspicuous situation of your representative, you will, I am persuaded, agree with me, that there is every reason to expect from him the same diligence and attention, and the same good conduct in the discharge of his new duties.2

After some manoeuvring, when (Sir) Robert John Buxton* declined, the corporation invited to stand. He ‘acquiesced’ and, having made an encouraging canvass, sought from Pitt the ‘full support of government’, adding, ‘I should not presume to solicit that assistance was I not firmly attached to the present administration’.3 (He had joined the Whig Club 6 June 1785, but had seceded from it.) He was returned in second place, both seats having become vacant.

Only four speeches of Jodrell’s are known: on 21 May 1798 he had something to say on a controversial clause of the shipowners bill; on 22 Apr. 1800 he moved the second reading of a bill to extend the Vagrancy Act to poachers; on 19 May 1802 he spoke on the coroners residence bill; and on 27 Apr. 1803 he successfully proposed an amendment to the coroners bill, to grant increased travelling allowances at the discretion of the magistrates.

At the general election of 1802, disappointed at Yarmouth, he was returned for Bramber on the Calthorpe interest, possibly at Addington’s instigation. He appears to have supported Addington’s ministry. In May 1804 he was listed ‘doubtful’, but in September 1804 and 1805 he was classed as a Pittite. He voted against the censure of Melville on 8 Apr. 1805. On 27 May he was balloted to the committee to consider the eleventh naval report. The following year he supported the repeal of Pitt’s Additional Force Act, 30 Apr.; but he was listed adverse to the abolition of the slave trade and voted against the Grenville ministry on the Hampshire election petition, 13 Feb. 1807. Sir Edmund Lacon proposed him for Yarmouth at the general election of 1806, but although the corporation expressed their regard for him, they declined to support his candidature.4 He was designated a supporter of the Portland administration after being absent ill in April 1807,5 and added to the finance committee in June, remaining on it for the next two sessions. Classed as ‘doubtful’ by the Whigs in 1810, he voted steadily with government over the Scheldt expedition January-March 1810, against the release of the radical Gale Jones, 16 Apr., and against parliamentary reform 21 May. He was in the government minority on the Regency, 1 Jan. 1811, and voted for a stronger administration, 21 May 1812. He did not contest the general election of 1812.

He died 11 Mar. 1814, aged 64. In 1813 he resigned the recordership of Yarmouth in order to avoid passing the death sentence on a man who had murdered his wife.6

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: M. H. Port

Notes

  • 1. C. J. Palmer, Hist. Gt. Yarmouth, 348.
  • 2. Ibid. 227.
  • 3. PRO 30/8/148, f. 164.
  • 4. Fortescue mss, Lady Townshend to Grenville, 17 Oct., enc. corpn. resolution of 30 Sept.
  • 5. J. Wilson, Biog. Index (1808), 81; CJ, lxii. 306.
  • 6. Palmer, 349.