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John Henry Loft

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General
John Henry Loft
Portrait of John Henry Loft
Born(1769-02-20)20 February 1769
Grainthorpe, Lincolnshire, England
Died13 July 1849(1849-07-13) (aged 80)
Loft Street, Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England
Burial placeMarshchapel
NationalityBritish
OccupationSoldier
Known forCorrupt politics, transcribing Lincolnshire graves
SpouseElizabeth Farr

John Henry Loft (20 February 1769 – 13 July 1849) was a British soldier and politician.

Early life

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Loft was born on 20 February 1769, in Grainthorpe, Lincolnshire.[1]

Military career

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In 1769 he enlisted in the 15th Regiment of Foot and had been promoted to lieutenant-colonel within four years, of an unattached Corps of 4,000 men which he had raised himself.[2]

Political career

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Loft was the member of Parliament for Great Grimsby [3] and was much involved with recruiting during the Napoleonic Wars. He was a controversial but influential figure in the development of Grimsby as a port, being one of the original shareholders named in the act of parliament which created the Grimsby Haven Company in 1796.[4]

The antiquarian

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Between around 1826 and 1844, Loft obsessively recorded details of churches, gravestones and memorials around Lincolnshire, many of which have survived and become a useful resource for historians.[5]

Death and legacy

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Loft died on 13 July 1849, in a house on Loft Street, Grimsby, which had been named after him.[6]

References

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  1. ^ E.M.B.Loft, Lincolnshire Life vol. 24 no. 11 Feb. 1985 pp. 28-30
  2. ^ Philippart, John (1815). The royal military calendar: containing the services of every general officer in the British Army, from the date of their commission, with an appendix, containing an account of the operations of the army on the eastern coast of Spain in 1812-13. A. J. Valpy. p. 239. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  3. ^ "LOFT, John Henry (?1769-1849), of Camby House, Louth and Healing House, nr. Grimsby, Lincs". Historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  4. ^ "An Act for Widening, Deepening, Enlarging, Altering, and Improving the Haven and Town and Port of Great Grimsby, in the County of Lincoln". Archive.org. 1796.
  5. ^ General Loft's Lincolnshire Notes. CD published by the Lincolnshire Family History Society
  6. ^ Thorne, R. G. (1986). The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820. Boydell and Brewer. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Great Grimsby
1802–1803
With: Ayscoghe Boucherett
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Great Grimsby
1808–1812
With: William Ellice
Succeeded by