YORKE, Hon. John (1728-1801), of Sonning, Berks.

At the age of 18 John Yorke and his brother, Charles, were appointed by Lord Hardwicke jointly to a life sinecure in Chancery worth £1,200 a year.Walpole to Montagu, 5 Aug. 1746. When he was 22 his father applied through Newcastle to the King at Hanover to give him another Chancery sinecure, that of chaffwax, equivalent in value to his half share of the Crown office, so that Charles might enjoy the whole of the profits of that office. The King’s reaction was:

My Lord Chancellor is getting every office that falls in the law for his own children;

but on his return to England he granted the application.Yorke, Hardwicke, ii. 179 et seq. Three years later John exchanged the office for a joint share in another Chancery place, held by the poet Cowper’s father, who died the next year, leaving John with the whole of the profits.Gent. Mag. 1755, p. 572.

He died 4 Sept. 1801.