Josiah Diston (1667–1737), of

Blackwell Hall Blackwell Hall in the City of London (also known as Bakewell Hall) was the centre for the wool and cloth trade in England from mediaeval times until the 19th century. Cloth manufacturers and clothiers from provincial England brought their material ...

Basinghall Street Bassishaw is a ward in the City of London. Small, it is bounded by wards: Coleman Street, east; Cheap, south; Cripplegate, north; Aldersgate, west. It first consisted of Basinghall Street with the courts and short side streets off it,

, London and Woodcote Grove,

Epsom Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. ...

, Surrey, was an English cloth factor, banker and Whig politician who sat in the

English House of Commons The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England (which incorporated Wales) from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons o ...

from 1705 to 1707 and in the British House of Commons between 1707 and 1722. Diston was the second son of Josiah Diston of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire and his wife Mary. He was from a dissenting family. For several years he was a leading factor in the cloth trade at Blackwell Hall, the London cloth market. The cloth trade brought him wealth and he became closely connected with the town of

Devizes Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century civil war between St ...

in Wiltshire. In 1701, Diston became a Director of the Bank of England. He stood for Parliament for

at the

1705 English general election The 1705 English general election saw contests in 110 constituencies in England and Wales, roughly 41% of the total. The election was fiercely fought, with mob violence and cries of "Church in Danger" occurring in several boroughs. During the pre ...

, but was defeated. However he was returned as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

for Devizes at a by-election on 11 December 1706. Having established a political presence at Devizes, he used his wealth to consolidate his interest, spending, it was said, £3,000 by the spring of 1708 in preparation for the general election. He also took part in intense political struggles within the corporation of Devizes. As a result, he headed the poll at Devizes at the 1708 general election. In November 1708, he was on the committee for drafting a bill encouraging woollen and iron manufacturers, and in March 1709 he voted for the naturalization of the Palatines. He was put forward to draft a bill for public registration of deeds, wills and conveyances made in Wiltshire, and voted for the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell in 1710. However, at the 1710 general election, there was a double return at Devizes and he was dislodged. He was also defeated at Devizes at the

1713 general election Events January–March * January 17 – Tuscarora War: Colonel James Moore leads the Carolina militia out of Albemarle County, North Carolina, in a second offensive against the Tuscarora. Heavy snows force the troops to take re ...

. From about 1713 Diston began buying up land at Epsom, where he built a house, Mount Diston (now Woodcote Grove), where he lived for approximately 15 years. Diston was again returned as a Whig MP at Devizes at the

1715 general election Events For dates within Great Britain and the British Empire, as well as in the Russian Empire, the "old style" Julian calendar was used in 1715, and can be converted to the "new style" Gregorian calendar (adopted in the British Empire i ...

. In Parliament he voted for the Septennial bill and for the repeal of the Occasional Conformity and Schism Acts. He voted against the

Peerage Bill {{short description, Proposed British law of 1719 The Peerage Bill was a 1719 measure proposed by the British Whig government led by James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope and Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland which would have largely halted the ...

in 1719. In 1721 he became

Deputy Governor of the Bank of England A Deputy Governor of the Bank of England is the holder of one of a small number of senior positions at the Bank of England, reporting directly to the Governor. According to the original charter of 27 July 1694 the Bank's affairs would be supervis ...

for the next three years and also Receiver General of Taxes for Westminster and Middlesex. He lost his seat at Devizes in 1722, when he only polled two votes, and did not stand again. He also started to sell off his property in Epsom. He had incurred a debt of £23,446 by 1726, when he failed as receiver general. His sureties had paid up only £17,574 by August 1730. He spent the rest of his life in debt and was in receipt of royal bounty from then until his death. Diston died at Hampstead on 7 November 1737.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diston, Josiah 1667 births 1737 deaths People from Epsom Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies English MPs 1705–1707 British MPs 1707–1708 British MPs 1708–1710 British MPs 1715–1722 Deputy Governors of the Bank of England