John Penn (aka "John Penn, Jr."[sic], "John Penn of Stoke") (February 22, 1760, London, England – June 21, 1834, Stoke Poges) was an Anglo-American writer, a part proprietor of the province of Pennsylvania (now part of the United States), and a governor of the Isle of Portland.
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Life
John Penn was the son of Thomas Penn and his wife Juliana (the daughter of Thomas Fermor, first earl of Pomfret), elder brother to Granville Penn, and a grandson of William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania. He was sent to school at Eton College. On the death of his father in 1775, John Penn succeeded to his father's interests, but, with his cousin, also named John Penn ("John Penn the Governor"), lost the proprietorship by the American Revolution. In 1776 he entered Clare College, Cambridge as a fellow commoner.[1] He made an extended visit to Pennsylvania (1783-88), renting a Philadelphia city house, and designing and building a country house, The Solitude,[2] which survives on the grounds of the Philadelphia Zoo.[3] He was a member of parliament for Helston from 1802 to 1803. In 1805 he became governor of the Isle of Portland, where he built Pennsylvania Castle.[4] He published a tragedy (The Battle of Eddington, or British Liberty), some pamphlets, and a volume of poems, and received the degree of LL.D. from Cambridge in 1811.
In his declining years he founded the "Outinian Society," whose purpose was to encourage young men and women to marry.
He died, unmarried, in Stoke Poges, where the Penn family held a manor, on June 21, 1834.
See also
- List of colonial governors of Pennsylvania has information about proprietors as well as governors
References
- ^ Penn, John in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
- ^ The Solitude
- ^ The Solitude today
- ^ Pennsylvania Castle
External links
- Biographical note
- Works by or about John Penn (writer) in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
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