John Olmius, 1st Baron Waltham

John Olmius, 1st Baron Waltham (18 July 1711 – 5 October 1762), was a British landowner and politician.

Background

Olmius was the only son of John Olmius, of Braintree, Essex, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, by Elizabeth Clarke, daughter and heiress of Thomas Clarke, a London merchant. He was the grandson of a wealthy Dutch merchant who had settled in England. He acquired New Hall near Boreham, Essex, in 1737.

Political career

Olmius was returned to Parliament as one of four representatives for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis in 1737, a seat he held until 1741, and then represented Colchester until 1742. He was a supporter of Walpole and later Newcastle and Pelham. From 1746 to 1747 he was High Sheriff of Essex. He remained out of Parliament for twelve years, but in 1754 he was once again returned for Colchester. In 1761 he was returned for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis for a second time. Olmius had applied to Lord Bute for an English peerage in the 1761 coronation honours but was overlooked. However, in June 1762, only four months before his death, he was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron Waltham, of Philipstown in the King's County.

Family

Lord Waltham married Anne Billers, daughter and heiress of Sir William Billers, of Thorley, Hertfordshire, Lord Mayor of London, in 1741. They had one son and a daughter. He died in October 1762, aged 51, and was succeeded in the barony by his only son, Drigue, on whose death in 1787 the title became extinct. Waltham's daughter and eventual heiress the Honourable Elizabeth Olmius married John Luttrell, later 3rd Earl of Carhampton, who later assumed the additional surname of Olmius in respect of his father-in-law.