Sir John Perring, 1st Baronet

Sir John Perring, 1st Baronet (26 April 1765 – 30 January 1831), FSA, of Membland in the parish of Holbeton, Devon, was a Member of Parliament and served as Lord Mayor of London in 1803. On 3 October 1808 he was created a baronet, first of the Perring baronets of Membland, Devon. He was born in about 1765, the eldest son of Philip Perring (died 1797), of Denbury House, Church Street, Modbury in Devon, a serge maker, by his wife and cousin Susanna Legassick, daughter of Richard (or Pascoe) Legassick, Sir John Perring occupied Membland Hall in 1799 and from 1816 to 1827.

Civic career

He was created an alderman in the City of London's Broad Street ward on 13 January 1798 as a clothworker. He was subsequently elected one of the Sheriffs of the City of London in 1800. John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon, in his capacity as Lord Chancellor informed King George III of Perring's appointment, privately describing Perring as "in private life a person of worth, and, in public, of sound and loyal principles".

John Silvester, the Recorder of London referenced the spectre of Napoleon Bonaparte and the burgeoning Napoleonic Wars in his announcement of Perring's appointment, stating that "At a time so awful as the present, when the country is threatened by an implacable and unprincipled enemy, it is of the last importance that the civic chair should be filled by a person in whom the greatest confidence can be placed". With the threat of invasion by the French still present, Perring presented the colours of the Corporation of London to the ten regiments of the London Loyal Infantry who assembled at Blackheath on 18 May 1804. Perring was accompanied on the grand procession to Blackheath by the Earl of Harrington, Earl Amherst and Prince Frederick, Duke of York.

Post-mayoralty Pering was elected the Member of Parliament for New Romney at the 1806 general election, but lost his seat the following year at the 1807 general election.

Perring attended the coronation of George IV in July 1821. The satirist John Wolcot under his pseudonym of Peter Pindar, wrote an "Instructive epistle" to Perring, satirically proposing an "Address of Thanks" to Prime Minister Henry Addington for his "Great and Upright Conduct when Prime Minister".

A banker by trade, Perring headed the firm of John Perring, Shaw, Barber & Co. Perring's bank issued bonds for the South American land speculator Gregor MacGregor. The suspension of payments by Perring's bank in the subsequent Panic of 1825, and its failure to satisfy creditors in the panic led Perring to lose his estates. Sir John Perring, 2nd Baronet (1794–1843), eldest son and heir; Phillip Perring; Elizabeth Perring; Jane Perring; Laura Perring.

Death He died at Burton Crescent in 1831, aged 65.