Constituency Dates
Bedford 1727 – 34
Family and Education
b. 1697, o.s. of John Orlebar of Red Lion Sq., London, master in Chancery, by Elizabeth, da. of John Whitfield of Ives Place, Maidenhead, Berks. educ. Eton 1707-15; M. Temple 1707, called 1720; King’s, Camb. 1715. m. 29 Dec. 1729, Mary, da. of Samuel Rolt of Milton Ernest, Beds., M.P. Bedford 1701, 1713-15, 1s. 4da. suc. fa. 1721; cos. Richard Orlebar at Hinwick 1733.
Offices Held

Commr. of excise 1738 – d.; bencher, M. Temple 1742.

Address
Main residence: Hinwick, Beds.
biography text

John Orlebar, like his father and grandfather a bencher of the Middle Temple, was descended from George Orlebar, who acquired Hinwick with Podington, Bedfordshire, through his wife in 1647.1F. St. J. Orlebar, Orlebar Chron. 310. Returned as a Whig for Bedford in 1727, he voted with the Administration in all recorded divisions. When in 1728 an attempt was made by the Whig members of the Bedford corporation to turn out their Tory recorder, Lord Bruce, by legal proceedings,2John Bardolph to John Orlebar, 1728, Orlebar, 1728, Orlebar mss 1776, Beds. RO. the prospective vacancy was offered to Orlebar who replied to the mayor that ‘in case you succeed ... I shall very willingly accept the favour you offer me and cheerfully defray the expense of it,’3Members of Bedford Corp. to John Orlebar, 22 Nov. 1728, and John Orlebar to the mayor, Nov. 1728, ibid. 1779, 1780. but nothing came of it. He did not stand again, was given a place in the excise in 1738, and died 19 Dec. 1765. A number of his letters, describing parliamentary proceedings 1739-42, are printed in vol. iii of Coxe’s Walpole.

Author
R.S.L.
Volume
Commons 1715-1754
Notes
  • 1. F. St. J. Orlebar, Orlebar Chron. 310.
  • 2. John Bardolph to John Orlebar, 1728, Orlebar, 1728, Orlebar mss 1776, Beds. RO.
  • 3. Members of Bedford Corp. to John Orlebar, 22 Nov. 1728, and John Orlebar to the mayor, Nov. 1728, ibid. 1779, 1780.