 As these plans for the harbour came to fruition, he was appointed chairman of the company tasked with performing the required work; it was the Grimsby Haven Company, which was created by an Act of Parliament in 1796 (36 Geo III, chap.98) for the express purpose of building the dock and repairing the Haven.He secured the friendship and patronage of Charles Anderson Pelham, 1st Baron Yarborough, a prominent local land-owner involved in the Haven Company, and was returned as the Member of Parliament for Great Grimsby in 1796 owing to this friendship.