Benjamin Bathurst FRS (1692– 5 November 1767) of

Lydney Lydney is a town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is on the west bank of the River Severn in the Forest of Dean District, and is 16 miles (25 km) southwest of Gloucester. The town has been bypassed by the A48 road since 199 ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

for 54 years from 1713 to 1767. Bathurst was a younger son of Sir Benjamin Bathurst, MP and his wife Frances Apsley, daughter of Sir Allen Apsley. His father was heavily involved in the slave trade through the

Royal African Company The Royal African Company (RAC) was an English mercantile (trading) company set up in 1660 by the royal Stuart family and City of London merchants to trade along the west coast of Africa. It was led by the Duke of York, who was the brother of ...

and the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sout ...

. Bathurst was himself a supporter of the slave trade, in his position as MP. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...

in 1699 and matriculated at

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

30 June 1708, aged 16. He inherited the estates at

, Gloucestershire and Mixbury, Oxfordshire on the death of his father in 1704. Bathurst 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 ...

(MP) for

Cirencester Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...

on the family interest at the 1713 British general election He was returned again in

1715 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 ...

and

1722 Events January–March * January 27 – Daniel Defoe's novel ''Moll Flanders'' is published anonymously in London. * February 10 – The Battle of Cape Lopez begins off of the coast of West Africa (and present-day Gabon), as ...

. At the 1727 British general election, he transferred to

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east of t ...

where he was caught up in a double return. He was declared elected as MP on 16 February 1728. He was returned again in

1734 Events January– March * January 8 – Salzburgers, Lutherans who were expelled by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Salzburg, Austria, in October 1731, set sail for the British Colony of Province of Georgia, Georgia in North America ...

, 1741 and

1747 Events January–March * January 31 – The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital. * February 11 – King George's War: A combined French and Indian force, commanded by Captain Nicolas Antoine II Coul ...

. At the

1754 general election Events January–March * January 28 – Horace Walpole, in a letter to Horace Mann, coins the word ''serendipity''. * February 22 – Expecting an attack by Portuguese-speaking militias in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Pla ...

he was returned as MP for Monmouth Boroughs on the interest of the Duke of Beaufort, and was returned again in 1761. He was appointed

Outranger of Windsor Forest The Out-Ranger of Windsor Forest was an official post associated with the royal forest of Windsor. The nominal duties of the out- ranger were to preserve any deer which escaped the bounds of Windsor Forest. (Under forest law, the Sovereign own ...

in 1763 which he held for the rest of his life. There is no record of his ever having spoken in Parliament in all the years he was a member Bathurst married Finetta Poole, the daughter of Henry Poole of Kemble, Gloucestershire in 1714, and with her had 22 children. She died on 27 February 1738 and he married as his second wife, on 22 October 1741, Catherine Whitfield, widow of Dr. William Whitfield and daughter of the Rev. Lawrence Brodrick, chaplain to the House of Commons. With her he had a further 14 children. He became a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematic ...

on 9 December 1731. Bathurst died on 5 November 1767. He was the brother of Allen Bathurst, 1st Baron Bathurst and Peter Bathurst.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bathurst, Benjamin 1692 births 1767 deaths People from Lydney People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Welsh constituencies British MPs 1713–1715 British MPs 1715–1722 British MPs 1722–1727 British MPs 1727–1734 British MPs 1734–1741 British MPs 1741–1747 British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 Benjamin