John Penn (writer)

John Penn
Bust of John Penn
4th Chief proprietor of Pennsylvania
In office 1775–1776
Preceded by	Thomas Penn (his father)
Succeeded by	none (American Revolution ended proprietorship)
Personal details
Born	22 February 1760 London, England
Died	21 June 1834(1834-06-21) (aged 74) Stoke Poges, England
Profession	Inherited 75% interest in the Province of Pennsylvania, writer, governor of the Isle of Portland

John Penn (22 February 1760 – 21 June 1834) was an English politician and writer who was the chief proprietor of the Province of Pennsylvania from 1775 to 1776. He and his cousin, John Penn ("John Penn, the Governor") held unsold property, of 24,000,000 acres (97,000 km²), which the Pennsylvania legislature confiscated after the American Revolution.

Penn lived in Philadelphia for five years after the Revolution, from 1783 to 1788, building a country house just outside the city. He returned to Great Britain in 1789 after receiving his three-fourths portion of £130,000, the compensation for the proprietorship by the Pennsylvania government. He and his cousin, John Penn, who remained a resident in US, received compensation from Parliament for their losses in the former colony.

In 1798, he was appointed as High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire and served as a Member of Parliament (1802–1805). He was appointed in 1805, as governor of the Isle of Portland. Also a writer, he published in a variety of genres.