Sir John Heathcoat Heathcoat-Amory, 1st Baronet (4 May 1829-26 May 1914), was a British businessman and Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 politician.

Born John Amory, he was the maternal grandson of John Heathcoat

John Heathcoat

John Heathcoat was an English inventor.Heathcoat was born at Duffield near Derby. During his apprenticeship to a frame-smith near Loughborough, he made an improvement in the construction of the warp-loom, so as to produce mitts of a lace-like appearance by means of it...

, Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Tiverton

Tiverton (UK Parliament constituency)

Tiverton was a constituency located in east Devon, formerly represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Enfranchised as a parliamentary borough in 1615 and first represented in 1621, it elected two Members of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

, and assumed the additional surname of Heathcoat by Royal license. He was a partner of J. Heathcoat & Co, lace

Lace

Lace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft. True lace was...

 manufacturers, and also represented Tiverton in the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 bretween 1868 and 1885. In 1874 he was created a Baronet, of Knightshayes Court in Tiverton in the County of Devon. In 1867 he commissioned the country house of Knightshayes Court

Knightshayes Court

Knightshayes Court is a Victorian country house in Tiverton, Devon, England, designed by William Burges for the Heathcoat-Amory family. Nikolaus Pevsner describes it as "an eloquent expression of High Victorian ideals in a country house of moderate size." The house is Grade I listed as of 12 May...

 under the design of William Burges

William Burges (architect)

William Burges was an English architect and designer. Amongst the greatest of the Victorian art-architects, Burges sought in his work an escape from 19th century industrialisation and a return to the values, architectural and social, of an imagined mediaeval England...

.

Heathcoat-Amory married Henrietta Mary Unwin in 1863. They had five sons and four daughters (of whom six reached adulthood). Derick Heathcoat-Amory, 1st Viscount Amory

Derick Heathcoat-Amory, 1st Viscount Amory

Derick Heathcoat-Amory, 1st Viscount Amory was a British Conservative politician. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1958 to 1960 and as Chancellor of the University of Exeter from 1972 to 1981.-Background and education:...

, was their grandson while David Heathcoat-Amory

David Heathcoat-Amory

David Philip Heathcoat-Amory is a British politician, accountant and farmer. He was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Wells from 1983 until he lost his seat in the 2010 general election.-Education and professional life:...

is their great-grandson. Heathcoat-Amory died in May 1914, aged 85, and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his second but eldest surviving son Ian. Lady Heathcoat-Amory died in November 1923.