John Purling

John Purling (c. 1722–1800) was an East India Company commander and director and a politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1770 and 1790.

Purling's parentage is unknown but he may been a native of St Helena. Mr or Captain John Purling was allowed by the

Indiaman Sandwich from 1753 to 1759, and Neptune from 1760 to 1762. Following his last highly profitable China voyage. he resigned the service, and in April 1763 was elected a director of the Company.^[1]

In 1770, Purling became Deputy Chairman of the East India Company and purchased the estate of

John Buller senior. In 1772 the East India Company ran into financial difficulties, and Purling as its chairman was criticized for misleading the proprietors about their position. Although the control of the Company's affairs really rested with Sulivan and Sir George Colebrook and Purling's responsibility was largely nominal, he refused to stand for re-election as Chairman in 1773. In a speech in Parliament on 23 March 1773, he welcomed parliamentary investigation into the Company's affairs. In 1774 he took the lead in pressing for the compensation of East India commanders adversely affected by the shipping reforms resulting from the Regulating Act of 1773. In 1774 he was returned unopposed for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis. He became a director of the EIC again in 1777 and remained until 1780. In 1780 he was returned for Weymouth unopposed. He was a member of the St. Alban's Tavern group, which tried to bring about a union between Pitt and Fox. He was returned unopposed for Weymouth again in 1784 but did not stand in 1790.^[1]

Purling died on 23 August 1800, aged 78. His will mentions property near Weymouth and Ramsay in Huntingdonshire, and also at St. Vincent in the West Indies [1] He built up a large collection of works of art by Raphael, Correggio, Carracci, Guido, Parmegiano, Claude Titian, Tintoretto, S. Ricci, Domenichino, P. Veronese, P. Da Cortona, C. Maratti, Poussin, Murillo, Cuyp, Rubens, Teniers, Zuccarelli, Wilson, Wouvermans, P. Potter, Vanderwerff, Vandervelde, Berchem, Ferg and others. These were auctioned in 1801 after his death.^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "PURLING, John (?1722-1800), of Bradford Peverell, Dorset". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
^ A Catalogue of the Renowned and Valuable Collection of Pictures of John Purling Esq</ref]

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Peregrine Cust Vice-Admiral (Sir) Samuel Cornish	Member of Parliament for New Shoreham 1770 With: Peregrine Cust	Succeeded by Thomas Rumbold
Preceded by John Buller	John Buller	Succeeded by John Buller
Preceded by The Lord Waltham Sir Charles Davers Jeremiah Dyson John Tucker	Sir Thomas Rumbold 1784-1790 George Jackson 1786-1788 Gabriel Steward 1788-1790	Succeeded by Thomas Jones

[HOP-1] "PURLING, John (?1722-1800), of Bradford Peverell, Dorset". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 23 September 2017.

[2] A Catalogue of the Renowned and Valuable Collection of Pictures of John Purling Esq</ref]

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