John Asgill
John Asgill | |
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Born | 25 March 1659 |
Died | 10 November 1738 (aged 79) |
Occupation | lawyer, politician, pamphleteer |
Notable work(s) | An Argument Proving, that … Man may be Translated |
John Asgill (25 March 1659 – 10 November 1738) was an eccentric English writer and politician.
Life
He studied law at the Middle Temple, 1686, and was called to the bar in 1692. He founded the first land bank in 1695 with Nicholas Barbon, which, after proving to be a profitable venture, merged with the land bank of John Briscoe in 1696. However, after profits dropped, the bank closed in 1699. He was then elected that year as Member of Parliament for Bramber.[1]
In 1700 Asgill had published An Argument Proving, that … Man may be Translated, a pamphlet aiming to prove that death was not obligatory upon Christians, which, much to his surprise, caused a public outcry and led to his expulsion from the Irish House of Commons in 1703, only a short time after he had stood successfully for Enniscorthy. He fell on hard times, and passed the rest of his life between the Fleet prison and the King's Bench, but his zeal as a pamphleteer continued unabated.
References
Cousin, John William (1910). " Asgill, John". A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons. Wikisource
Notes
- ↑ Greaves, Richard L. "Asgill, John". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/734. (subscription or UK public library membership required). The first edition of this text is available as an article on Wikisource: "Asgill, John". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons. Wikisource
Parliament of Ireland | ||
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Preceded by Richard Barry John Seymour |
Member of Parliament for Enniscorthy 1703 Served alongside: Morley Saunders |
Succeeded by Morley Saunders William Berry |
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