View source for John Holker

{{Short description|British lawyer, politician, and judge}}
{{about|the 19th-century lawyer and politician|the 18th-century Jacobite soldier and industrial spy|John Holker (Jacobite)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2016}}
[[File:John Holker, Vanity Fair, 1878-02-09.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Caricature from ''[[Vanity Fair (British magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'', 1878]]
[[File:John holker cartoon.png|thumb|Caricature from ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'', 1881]]
'''Sir John Holker''' (1828 &ndash; 24 May 1882) was a British lawyer, politician, and judge.  He sat as a [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Preston (UK Parliament constituency)|Preston]] from 1872 until his death ten years later.  He was first Solicitor General and later Attorney General in the [[Second Disraeli Ministry|second government]] of [[Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield|Benjamin Disraeli]].
== Biography ==
Holker was born in [[Bury, Lancashire]], and educated at [[Bury Grammar School]].  After being articled to a solicitor, he was called to the bar at [[Gray's Inn]] in 1854, where he was later a [[bencher]], and treasurer in 1875.  He joined the [[Northern Circuit]], and lived in Manchester.  He married in 1861 but had no children.  After his first wife died, he remarried in 1874 to Miss Mary Lucia Richardson.  There were no children from either marriage.
He returned to London in 1864, where he developed a very successful and lucrative legal practice, and was appointed [[Queen's Counsel]] in 1866.
He was the Conservative candidate at a by-election in [[Preston (UK Parliament constituency)|Preston]] in 1872, one of the first held after the [[Ballot Act 1872]] required the use of a [[secret ballot]].  He served as [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for Preston until his death in 1882.  He became [[Solicitor General]] in the government of [[Benjamin Disraeli]] in 1874, and was knighted.  He replaced Sir [[Richard Baggallay]] as Attorney General in 1875, retaining in the position until Liberals won the general election in 1880.
He was appointed a [[Lord Justice of Appeal]] in January 1882, but resigned due to ill health in May, and died in London a few days later.
==References==
{{reflist}}
*{{Rayment-hc|date=March 2012}}
* J. A. Hamilton, ‘Holker, Sir John (1828–1882)’, rev. Hugh Mooney, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/13509 accessed 29 Aug 2013]
== External links ==
{{Commons category|John Holker}}
{{wikisource|Holker,_John_(1828-1882)_(DNB00)}}
*{{Hansard-contribs | sir-john-holker | John Holker }}
{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{succession box
| title  = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Preston (UK Parliament constituency)|Preston]]
| years  = [[1872 Preston by-election|1872]]–[[February 1882 Preston by-election|1882]]
| with   = [[Edward Hermon]] to 1881
| with2  = [[William Farrer Ecroyd]] from 1881
| before = [[Sir Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, 5th Baronet|Sir Thomas Hesketh]]<br />[[Edward Hermon]]
| after  = [[William Farrer Ecroyd]]<br />[[Henry Cecil Raikes]]
}}
{{s-legal}}
{{succession box | before=[[Richard Baggallay|Sir Richard Baggallay]] | title=[[Solicitor-General for England]] | years=1874&ndash;1875 | after=[[Hardinge Giffard, 1st Earl of Halsbury|Sir Hardinge Giffard]]}}
{{succession box | before=[[Richard Baggallay|Sir Richard Baggallay]] | title=[[Attorney-General for England]] | years=1875&ndash;1880 | after=[[Henry James, 1st Baron James of Hereford|Sir Henry James]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holker, John}}
[[Category:1828 births]]
[[Category:1882 deaths]]
[[Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:People educated at Bury Grammar School]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1868–1874]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1874–1880]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1880–1885]]
[[Category:Attorneys general for England and Wales]]
[[Category:Solicitors general for England and Wales]]
[[Category:Members of Gray's Inn]]
[[Category:People from Bury, Greater Manchester]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
{{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1820s-stub}}