John Pollexfen Bastard was a British Tory politician, landowner and colonel of the East Devonshire Militia who lived at Kitley House, Yealmpton, Devon.
Background
On 2 July 1809 he married, at Portland Chapel Marylebone, Judith Anne Martin, daughter of Sir Henry Martin, naval commissioner at Portsmouth and Comptroller of the Navy. When colonel of the East Devonshire Militia his father, William Bastard, saved the arsenal of Plymouth from the French Fleet in August 1779 and, to recognise that, was gazetted a baronet on 4 September but he declined to assume the title.
Career
He left no children of either marriage. In 1801 when colonel of the same regiment John Pollexfen Bastard quelled a riot of workmen and prevented the destruction of the Plymouth docks and dockyards. In 1815 he was conveyed by the Royal Navy to Leghorn (Livorno) for his health where he died the next year and was initially buried in the Old English Cemetery in Livorno, where his monument still stands.
His body was returned to Devon in a man-of-war.
According to the Oxford Companion to Children"s Literature, Bastard indirectly inspired the familiar form of the children"s rhyme "Old Mother Hubbard.." after instructing its author Sarah Catherine Martin, his sister-in-law, to "run away and write one of your stupid little rhymes."
Bastard owned several houses and large tracts of land in western England including his main residence Kitley House. He also can be spotted in Karl Anton Hickel"s William Pitt addressing the House of Commons on the French Declaration of War, 1793 in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.
The letters are held at Devon Record Office as part of the Simcoe Family papers (REF:1038M).
Membership
1st United Kingdom; 2nd United Kingdom. 3rd United Kingdom; 4th United Kingdom. 5th United Kingdom; 16th of Great Britain.
17th of Great Britain.
18th of Great Britain
Through his mother, born Bridget Poulett, William was a member of the Poulett, Bertie, Herbert and other influential families. He was elected Member of for Truro in 1783 and for the Devonshire Constituency from 1784.