Joseph Mawbey

Sir Joseph Mawbey, 1st Baronet (1730–1798) was an English distiller and politician, a supporter of John Wilkes.

He was born near Ravenstone, in a house on the Derbyshire-Leicestershire border, on 2 December 1730, the fourth son and youngest child of John Mawbey (died 4 September 1754 aged 61), by his first wife, Martha, daughter of Thomas Pratt (died in September 1737). Both parents were buried at Ravenstone, where Joseph erected in 1764 a mural monument in the church. When about ten years old he was taken to Surrey by his uncle, Joseph Pratt, main owner of a distillery at Vauxhall. Mawbey was taken into the business at the age of 17, and carried it on for many years with his brother John.

On his uncle's death in 1754, Mawbey inherited property in Surrey and established himself as a landed proprietor. He was High Sheriff of Surrey in 1757, bought the estate of Botleys in Chertsey in 1763, on which he built a large house, and for a quarter of a century was chairman of the Surrey quarter sessions. From 1761 to 1768 and from 1768 to 1774 he sat for Southwark, his colleague in the two-member constituency being Henry Thrale from 1765. He was created a baronet (30 July 1765) as a political ally by the Marquess of Rockingham.

On 14 November 1768 John Wilkes presented a petition through Mawbey. It covered points including the case brought over The North Briton, an allegation that Lord Mansfield had altered a record, and an allegation that Philip Carteret Webb had bribed Michael Curry, Wilkes's printer and a witness. Speeches by Mawbey on the proceedings against Wilkes were later published, in the Debates by Sir Henry Cavendish, 2nd Baronet. Mawbey was a significant force in the Bill of Rights Society that gave Wilkes practical support, and took Wilkes's side in the internal struggle, leading to a split in the Society, with supporters of John Horne.

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