His grandfather, John Pocklington, was also a clergyman and a noted polemicist during the controversies leading up to the English Civil War, who argued strongly in support of the ecclesiastical policies of Archbishop William Laud.
He stood for Huntingdon again in the interest of Edward Montagu, 3rd Earl of Sandwich at the 1702 English general election, but was defeated by two Tories.
[3] Pocklington was appointed as second justice of the palatine court of Chester in 1707 at a salary of £400 p.a., on the recommendation of Charles Montagu, 1st Duke of Manchester.
Pocklington was chosen again for Huntingdonshire at the 1710 British general election, after the Duke of Manchester had arranged an electoral pact with John Proby, a more independent-minded Whig.
[1] The two Houses issued contradictory orders to the Barons of the Irish Exchequer – Gilbert, Pocklington and Sir John St Leger – who felt obliged to implement the British decree.
[1] They were summoned by the Irish House of Lords to explain their conduct, and after an impassioned hearing they were committed to the custody of Black Rod for contempt of Parliament.
The British Parliament responded by passing the Declaratory Act 1719 (popularly known as the "sixth of George I") removing the Irish House of Lords' right to hear judicial appeals: this inflamed the public mood of anger and bitterness even further, and Pocklington and his colleagues were viciously insulted.
After regaining his freedom Pocklington might well have been expected to return to England, as Sir Jeffrey Gilbert soon did: but he was happy to continue living in Ireland, where he had bought an estate near Celbridge.