Constituency : Clapham 1885-6, Hackney South 1894-5, Launceston 1898-1906
John won the new seat of Clapham.
John was a Methodist minister's son from Shropshire. He was educated at Kingswood School and Cambridge where he won intellectual prizes. He became a Fellow at Cambridge studying maths but then became a barrister specialising in patent law. He was also interested in medical research and was first chairman of the Medical Research Council. In another string to his bow he was awarded a French honour for helping establish international units for measuring electricity.
John supported the idea of landlords paying the rates. He was an ardent Free Trader.
John stood down in 1906 and became a Lord Justice of Appeal as Baron Moulton.
In 1914 John was made head of a committee on the supply of explosives. He then became Director-General of the Explosives Department. He organised a brilliant team which greatly expanded the production of explosives until there was more than enough for the number of shells produced. They also produced fertilisers and, despite John's personal disapproval, poison gases. For his work John was showered with honours by Britain and its allies. He was the last person to receive the Order of the White Eagle before the Tsar's collapse.
John was a friend of Charles Darwin.
John returned to his legal practice after the war despite many offers from the chemical industry.
He died in 1921 aged 76.
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