John Lemon (6 November 1754 – 5 April 1814) was a British Whig Member of Parliament.
He was born in Truro, the second son of William Lemon by his marriage to Anne, the daughter of John Willyams of Carnanton House, and was the grandson of William Lemon the Elder (1696–1760), who had acquired a substantial estate at Carclew in 1749, and the younger brother of Sir William Lemon, 1st Baronet.'Sir William Lemon' in Annual Biography and Obituary (1826), pp. 441-442Pamela Dodds, Building Country Houses on Cornish Estates 1730–1830 (2002), paper for Cornish History Network conferenceHugh Pengelly Olivey, Notes on the Parish of Mylor, Section IX - Monuments in Mylor Church and Churchyard (1907)
The young John Lemon was educated at Truro Grammar SchoolNicholas Carlisle, A concise description of the endowed grammar schools in England, vol. 1 (1818), p. 151 and later at Harrow.Stanley T. Bindoff, John S. Roskell, Lewis Namier, The House of Commons 3, (1983), p. 34: "LEMON, John (1754–1814), of Truro, Cornw. West Looe 5 Apr.-Aug. 1784 Saltash 7 May 1787-1790 Truro 1796-5 Apr. 1814 b. 6 Nov. 1754, 2nd s. of William Lemon and bro. of William Lemon (qv). educ. Harrow 1770-1." He became a lieutenant colonel in the Horse Guards.Humphreys, Maggie & Evans, Robert, 1997. Dictionary of composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. London: Mansell. p 206
On 5 April 1814, he died unmarried in Polvellen, Cornwall.
Political career In 1784 he was elected to the House of Commons for West Looe, a seat he held only briefly. He returned to the Commons as a member for Saltash between 1787 and 1790. In 1796 he was able to buy from Viscount Falmouth a life interest in one of the seats at the pocket borough of TruroRoland G. Thorne, The House of Commons 1790-1820 (History of Parliament Trust, 1986), p. 87: "Falmouth seems to have allayed any such fears by selling John Lemon a life interest in the seat in 1796, Lemon being presumably acceptable to his opponents at Truro." and was duly elected for Truro that year, holding the seat until his death in 1814.
On 17 January 1804 Lemon was appointed as one of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, serving for only a month. According to convention, this meant he had to give up his Parliamentary seat on appointment to the Crown Office and seek re-election to his seat at a by-election in February, at which he was re-elected.
Amateur musician and composer Lemon was an amateur musician and composer. The Cathedral Psalter Chants (1874) included his Double Chant in G, while there is also a Chant in D. A Double Chant in F is in The Parish Psalter with Chants (1932).
References