John Hardy (MP)

John Hardy (1773 – 29 September 1855) was a British businessman and Member of Parliament.

Engraving of Sir John Hardy, after an engraving by Henry William Pickersgill

Hardy was a barrister, Recorder of Leeds for 27 years and the main owner of the Low Moor ironworks. He represented Bradford in the House of Commons from 1832 to 1837 and from 1841 to 1847. His father, John Hardy (1745-1806), who made successful investments in the Low Moor ironworks, was an attorney at Horsforth and Land Steward to the Spencer-Stanhope family. His father and grandfather had also been Stewards and Clerk to the Stanhope family of Horsforth.[1]

Born in Horsforth on the 11th of October 1773, John Hardy was educated in Switzerland near Bienne, where his contemporaries included John Singleton Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst and Daniel O'Connell, before returning home to study for the Bar. He married in 1804 Isabel, daughter of Richard Gathorne. Their eldest son John was created a Baronet in 1876 and their third son Gathorne became a prominent Conservative politician and was created Earl of Cranbrook in 1892. Hardy died at Dunstall Hall, Staffordshire on 29 September 1855.