Sir William Stapleton, 4th Baronet

In the 1720s Stapleton associated with Jacobites including Philip Wharton, 1st Duke of Wharton. At the general election of 1727 he was returned unopposed as Member of Parliament for Oxfordshire. He voted against the Administration in every recorded division. He spoke on a bill for the relief of the sugar colonies on 21 February 1733, and successfully opposed the import of rum from the North American colonies into Ireland as detrimental to the sugar colonies. He was involved in the drafting of the Molasses Act. He was returned unopposed again at the 1734 British general election.^[4] Linda Colley characterises him as an "inarticulate" Tory of the Country Party.^[5]

Stapleton died at Bath on 12 January 1740.^[2] He and his wife had three sons and two daughters.^[4] She remarried to Rev. Matthew Dutton and died in 1753 ^[6] He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his second son Thomas. His eldest son Lt. William Stapleton was killed on board HMS Isis at Port Royal, Jamaica. His daughter Catherine married Sir James Wright, HM Resident Minister in Venice.

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Sir Banks Jenkinson, Bt Henry Perrot	Member of Parliament for Oxfordshire 1727–1740 With: Henry Perrot	Succeeded by Sir James Dashwood, Bt Henry Perrot
Baronetage of England
Preceded by William Stapleton	Baronet of The Leeward Islands) 1699–1740	Succeeded by Thomas Stapleton