Editing Mad Jack Fuller (section)

== Political career ==
[[File:Fuller's Earth animated or Jack in the Bilboes.jpg|Satirical print of Fuller by [[William Heath (artist)|William Heath]]|thumb]]
[[File:At the Royal Institution 2023 016.jpg|thumb|right|Portrait at the [[Royal Institution]]]]

In 1779, at the age of 22, Fuller was captain of a light infantry company in the Sussex Militia. In 1796, he was appointed [[High Sheriff of Sussex]], for a period of one year and, in 1798, he became a [[captain (land)|captain]] in the [[Sussex Yeomanry|Sussex Gentlemen and Yeomanry Cavalry]].

In 1780, aged 23, Fuller was elected to [[Parliament of Great Britain|Parliament]] as a [[Tories (British political party)|Tory]], representing [[Southampton (UK Parliament constituency)|Southampton]] until 1784, and [[Sussex (UK Parliament constituency)|Sussex]] from 1801 to 1812.<ref name = HOP>{{cite web| url = http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/fuller-john-1756-1834 | title= FULLER, John (1756-1834), of Rose Hill, Suss. .| publisher= History of Parliament Online| accessdate = 3 December 2017}}</ref>

Fuller was a noted drunk. On 27 February 1810, he was involved in an incident with the [[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Speaker]] in Parliament, which led to him being seized by the [[Serjeant-at-Arms]] and subjected to public disgrace.<ref>[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1810/feb/27/proceedings-respecting-mr-fuller-for Hansard, 27 February 1810]</ref> At that time, he was serving on a committee that was enquiring into the reasons behind the disastrous [[Walcheren Expedition]] the previous year.

Fuller owned two Jamaican plantations which he had inherited from his uncle, Rose Fuller, along with the slaves who worked them.<ref name="UCL">{{cite web |title=Summary of Individual {{!}} Legacies of British Slave-ownership |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/-1047169191 |website=ucl.ac.uk |publisher=University College London |accessdate=31 July 2020}}</ref> In one debate he claimed that West Indian slaves lived in better conditions than many people in England.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

On 17 July 1781, Fuller's sister Elizabeth married Sir John Palmer Acland, a grandson of [[Sir Hugh Acland, 6th Baronet|Sir Hugh Acland]] MP, in [[St. Marylebone]] in [[London]].

In 1790, aged 33, Fuller proposed marriage to Susannah Arabella Thrale, the daughter of [[Henry Thrale]] and [[Hester Thrale]], but was rebuffed. He never married and is not known to have had any children.

In 1811, Fuller erected a [[pyramid]]-shaped building, often referred to as "The Pyramid", in the [[churchyard]] of the Church of St. Thomas à Becket in Brightling,<ref>[http://homepages.goldsmiths.ac.uk/genuki/SSX/Brightling/ Brightling, Sussex] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927192727/http://homepages.goldsmiths.ac.uk/genuki/SSX/Brightling/ |date=27 September 2007 }}</ref> as a future [[mausoleum]] for himself.

Fuller retired from politics in 1812, not standing for re-election in the [[1812 United Kingdom general election|general election of that year]].