YORKE, John (1685-1757), of Gouthwaite and Richmond, Yorks.

Yorke, who succeeded his father at Richmond in 1717, was an independent Whig. Up to 1741 all his recorded votes were against the Government, except on the two most unpopular measures of Walpole’s Administration, the excise bill and the Spanish convention, for both of which he voted. In the next Parliament he is described as one of the ‘capricious ... or a sort of neutrals in party’, who voted against the Government on the chairman of the elections committee,Coxe, Walpole, iii. 583. but he voted for them on the Hanoverians in all three divisions. In the 2nd Lord Egmont’s electoral survey, c.1749-50, he is described as ‘a whimsical fellow but in the main will be with Government’.

He died 14 July 1757.