was gone their Majesties, both houses of parliament, the privy councillors, the judges, and other persons of quality, were entertained at Guildhall with a most noble dinner; and his Majesty was pleased to confer the honour of knighthood on Christopher Lethuleer and John Houblon, Esqs., the present Sheriffs, &c.” On 26th April 1694 he became one of the Lords of the Admiralty, an office which he held till November 1702. On 26th July of that year he subscribed .£10,000 to the “new bank” (the Bank of England); and the new co-partnery at its first meeting on the 10th inst. elected him as Governor, with Mr. Michael Godfrey as Deputy-Governor.[1] Sir John Houblon was elected M.P. for Bodmyn in 1695, and sat in the House of Commons till 1705. He was also Lord Mayor of London. Luttrell gives us details of a long contest, which began in September 1692, at which time “the church party put up Raymond and Sir Peter Daniel, and the whiggs Sir John Fleet and Sir John Houblon.” The numbers at the poll were:— Fleet, 2486; Houblon, 2445; Raymond, 2167; Daniel, 2069; and the Court of Aldermen chose Sir John Fleet. In 1693 the candidates were Sir Jonathan Raymond and Sir Thomas Cook on the one side, and Sir William Ashurst and Sir John Houblon on the other, and the result of the poll was — Ashurst, 1927; Houblon, 1914; Raymond, 1008; Cook, 958; and the first two names, according to custom, being sent up to the Court of Aldermen, the Court was divided, 13 being for Ashurst, and 12 for Houblon, so Sir William Ashurst became Lord Mayor. In 1694 Sir John was too busy to give any thoughts to Guildhall. But on 28th September 1695 he was chosen unanimously. Luttrell writes:— “Tuesday, 29th October 1695 — This day Mr. Justice Rokeby of the Common Pleas took his place in the Court of King’s Bench; after which Sir John Houblon, the new Lord Mayor (attended by the aldermen and liverymen of this citty, who came down to Westminster in their barges) was sworn at the Exchequer Barr; from whence he returned into the citty, where a splendid dinner was prepared, the Lord Keeper, Judges, and several of the nobility were present.” Elkanah Settle, the poet, signalised the occasion by publishing “The Triumphs of London. Performed on October 29, 1695, for the entertainment of Sr. John Houblon, Kt., Lord Mayor of the City of London. Containing a true description of the several pageants, with the speeches spoken on each pageant. All prepared at the costs of the Worshipful Company of Grocers. To which is added a New Song upon His Majesty’s return, by Elkanah Settle. London, 1695,” 4to, 16 pages. In 1696 there was a public subscription for building the " noble fabric " of Greenwich Hospital; Sir John Houblon subscribed £100.
His wife was probably a daughter in a French refugee family; she is called by French registrars Marie Jorion, or Jourion, and by English, Mary Jurion. According to the inconvenient English custom, they resorted for religious ordinances sometimes to the parish church and sometimes to the French Church, so that I cannot give a complete list of their children. I find in Threadneedle Street register their son Isaac, baptized 6th October 1667. The next as to whom I have information is Matthew, baptized also in London, but in the parish church of St. Christopher-le-Stocks, 25th October 1670, where he was buried 29th July 1671; then in 1672 the next child was baptized and buried, name, Samuel; the next also was baptized there, 25th December 1673, name, Benjamin. Then I find in Threadneedle Street register, Elias, baptized 1st January 1682 (n.s.), and Elizabet, baptized 17th February 1686 (n.s.). I have not found the baptism of one son who grew to manhood, Rev. Jacob Houblon, Rector of Moreton. Sir John Houblon was buried in the church of St. Christopher-le-Stocks, 18th January 1711 (n.s.). Mary, Lady Houblon, survived until 10th December 1732.
The present Houblon family descends from Jacob, the fourth son of the elder James and Mary Du Cane, his wife. Deferring our notice of him, we state on the authority of an authentic manuscript pedigree, that there were originally ten brothers; and when we collate the names with those prefixed to the Funeral Sermon, we conclude that, in the lifetime of the elder James, three died — viz., Daniel (the 7th), Benjamin (the 8th), and Samuel (the 9th). Jeremiah was the tenth; of him I have no account, except that the four died unmarried.
The fifth son of the elder James was Isaac Houblon, born 1638; he was a merchant of St. Mary Woolchurch, London. He was married in Westminster Abbey, on 18th August 1670, to Miss Elizabeth King (born 1649), an orphan, daughter of the recently deceased Bishop of Chichester. Isaac seems to have been
- ↑ Mr. Godfrey’s connection with the Bank had an abrupt and melancholy termination. He with two other directors had gone to Holland on a project of establishing a mint there, for the payment of King William’s army then in the field. In July 1695 Sir James Houblon, Sir William Seawen, and Mr. Godfrey dined with the King in his tent, and then accompanied His Majesty to the trenches, where a cannon ball killed Mr. Godfrey as he stood near the King. Luttrell, vol. iii., p. 503.
