John Stapylton Grey Pemberton

John Stapylton Grey Pemberton was a Member of Parliament for Sunderland from 1900 to 1906 and served as Vice-Chancellor of Durham University from 1918 to 1919. He held various leadership roles in Durham, including President of the Council of Durham Colleges from 1911 to 1937, Recorder for Durham City, and chair of the Durham Quarter Sessions until 1938. Pemberton was educated at Eton and New College, Oxford, where he earned his BA in 1884 and MA in 1888. He became a magistrate for County Durham in 1883 and was called to the bar at Middle Temple in 1889.

Born to Richard Lawrence Pemberton and Jane Emma Stapylton, he married Janet Maud Marshall in 1890, who died in 1892. He remarried Nira Ross in 1895. Pemberton initially stood as a Conservative candidate for Sunderland in 1892 and won the seat alongside Theodore Doxford in 1900. However, both lost their seats in 1906. In 1910, he broke with his party over free trade and supported the Liberal candidate.

Pemberton was deeply involved in local governance, serving on Durham County Council and as chair of Sherburn Hospital’s governors. He stepped down as chair of the Quarter Sessions in 1938 at the age of 78 and died two years later in 1940 at the age of 79.