Barlow Trecothick ( – 28 May 1775) was a

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

merchant brought up in the colonial

Province of Massachusetts Bay The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in British America which became one of the thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III and Mary II, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of ...

who became one of the

Members 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 bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members oft ...

for the

and was

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional pow ...

in 1770.

Early life

Trecothick was the son of a

sea captain A sea captain, ship's captain, captain, master, or shipmaster, is a high-grade licensed mariner who holds ultimate command and responsibility of a merchant vessel.Aragon and Messner, 2001, p.3. The captain is responsible for the safe and efficie ...

, Mark Trecothick, by his marriage to Hannah Greenleaf. His place of birth is uncertain, but it was probably either

Stepney Stepney is a district in the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The district is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name appl ...

or else at sea.Lewis Namier, John Brooke, "Trecothick, Barlow" in ''The House of Commons 1754–1790'' (Boydell & Brewer, 1985)
p. 557
/ref> One biographer reports that he was born on 27 January 1720 in Stepney. His brother Edward Trecothick was baptized there in 1721. From about 1724, the Trecothicks lived in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

, Massachusetts Bay, where in 1734 the young Trecothick was

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

d to

Charles Apthorp Charles Apthorp (1698–1758) was a merchant and slave trader in Boston, colonial Massachusetts. Apthorp managed his import business from Merchants Row, and "in his day he was called the richest man in Boston." He also served in the employ of t ...

, an enormously rich English-born merchant and slave trader of Boston, serving him until 1740, and then becoming a merchant.David Hancock
"Trecothick, Barlow (1718?–1775)"
in ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' (2004), online edition : "From c.1724 he lived in Boston, Massachusetts, where he served as an apprentice to Charles Apthorp between 1734 and 1740."Foote
Annals of King's Chapel
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1896), pp. 143–144

Career

In his evidence to a parliamentary committee in England in 1766, Trecothick said he had lived at Boston between the ages of seven and twenty-two, was then in Jamaica for seven years, returned to New England for three years, and finally settled in London. His sister Hannah was born at Boston on 2 December 1724. After marrying in 1747, Trecothick and his wife moved to London, where they settled around 1750, and he continued trading as a merchant, through a company called Trecothick, Apthorp, and Thomlinson, becoming a member of the

Worshipful Company of Clothworkers The Worshipful Company of Clothworkers was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1528, formed by the amalgamation of its two predecessor companies, the Fullers (incorporated 1480) and the Shearmen (incorporated 1508). It succeeded to the position of t ...

.Conrad Edick Wright, ''Revolutionary Generation: Harvard Men and the Consequences of Independence'' (University of Massachusetts Press, 2005)
pp. 70, 71
/ref> Trecothick made a large fortune and became an

alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members them ...

of the

Corporation of London The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the municipal governing body of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United King ...

. In 1768 he bought the manor of Addington, in Surrey, for £38,500,, and began to build

Addington Park Addington Park is a park situated in Addington in the London Borough of Croydon. The park covers an area of . History The park was originally part of the manor of Addington and the area was used by Henry VIII for hunting purposes. The original ...

, a new

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhouse (Great Britain), town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the cit ...

Palladian style Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

, with single-storey wings.H. E. Malden, ed., ''A History of the County of Surrey'', Vol. 4 (Victoria County History, 1912
pp. 164–168 (Parishes: Addington)
/ref> He soon had an estate of some five thousand acres, and went on to sit as a

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 the City of London between 1768 and 1774, also serving as Lord Mayor in 1770.

Personal life

On 2 March 1747, Trecothick married Grizzel Apthorp, the eldest daughter of

. His first wife died childless on 31 July 1769, and on 9 June 1770, Trecothick married secondly Anne, a daughter of Amos Meredith and a sister of

Sir William Meredith, 3rd Baronet Sir William Meredith, 3rd Baronet (c. 1725 – 2 January 1790), was a British landowner who sat in the House of Commons from 1754 to 1780. A Rockingham Whig, he served as a Lord of the Admiralty from 1765 to 1766. Early life Meredith was the so ...

. There were also no children of this marriage. Trecothick died on 28 May 1775, before his house at Addington was completed. He was interred at St Mary the Blessed Virgin Churchyard in Addington.

Legacy

His property and estate was inherited by his heir, a Harvard-educated nephew, James Ivers, the son of Trecothick's younger sister Hannah, who changed his name to Trecothick in the terms of his benefactor's will,. Trecothick (formerly James Ivers) inherited ownership of over 500 enslaved people in Jamaica and Grenada from his uncle Barlow Trecothick. Trecothic completed the house, but ran through his uncle's fortune and had to sell up in 1803.

Charles Manners-Sutton Charles Manners-Sutton (17 February 1755 – 21 July 1828; called Charles Manners before 1762) was a bishop in the Church of England who served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1805 to 1828. Life Manners-Sutton was the fourth son of Lord G ...

purchased Addington Park, which became one of the palaces of the

Archbishops of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

and was renamed

Addington Palace Addington Palace is an 18th-century mansion in Addington located within the London Borough of Croydon. It was built on the site of a 16th-century manor house. It is particularly known for having been, between 1807 and 1897, the summer reside ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Trecothick, Barlow 1710s births 1775 deaths Year of birth uncertain 18th-century lord mayors of London Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies People of colonial Massachusetts British MPs 1768–1774