Author: Monck, John Berkeley
Biography:
MONCK, John Berkeley (1769-1834: historyofparliamentonline.org)
Poems: Containing the Goldfinch by “a student of Lincoln’s Inn” is attributed to John Berkeley Monck by HL. Certainly, Monck was a student at Lincoln’s Inn in 1796 when the book was published and he did go on to write other verse: Some Occasional Verses on the Opening of the Reading Literary Institution (1808; 8 pages). He may or may not have been the author of Poems about which reviews were scathing: MR described the title poem as a “waste of time and labour” and the author’s expressions as “unintelligible.” In the absence of any other candidate, this headnote is about Monck. He was the second eldest of five sons and one daughter born to John Monck (1734-1809) and his wife Emilia Snee (1742-95). He was baptised on 19 Sept. 1769 in Bath, Somerset. The Moncks were an old Devonshire family and John Berkeley Monck was a direct descendant of General George Monck, first duke of Albemarle. He was educated at Eton school (1778-88) and studied law at Lincoln’s Inn. He migrated to the Inner Temple in 1797, the year he was called to the bar, and took chambers in Mitre Court Buildings. Needing to leave London for health reasons, he moved to Reading where he became active in civic affairs, joined the freemasons, and met Mary Russell Mitford (q.v.). At the expense of his elder brother, Monck benefitted handsomely by the terms of his father’s will in 1809. He became a wealthy landowner and purchased the manor of Coley in the parish of St. Mary’s, Reading. He married Mary Stephen of Aldermaston, Berkshire, on 4 May 1810; they had two sons and two daughters. In the 1820 general election he was returned as MP for Reading and he joined a group of radical Whigs in parliament who supported reform of the corn laws, reducing taxation and expenditure, and Catholic relief. Monck supported Queen Caroline, and he argued for parliamentary reform. He announced his retirement from parliament on 9 July 1830. Monck died at Coley on 13 Dec. 1834. His other works include General Reflections on the System of the Poor Laws (1807) and A Letter to the Right Hon. Spencer Percival [sic], on the Present State of our Currency (1812). (historyofparliamentonline.org 1 Jan. 2025; ancestry.co.uk 1 Jan. 2025; Calendar of the Inner Temple Records; findmypast.co.uk 1 Jan. 2025; MR 23 [1797], 455-56) SR