Sir Stephen Lushington, 1st Baronet (17 June 1744 – 12 January 1807), of

South Hill Park South Hill Park is a English country house and its grounds, now run as an arts centre. It lies in the Birch Hill estate to the south of Bracknell town centre, in Berkshire. History Construction by Watts The original South Hill Park mansi ...

Easthampstead Easthampstead is a former village and now a southern suburb of the town of Bracknell, in the civil parish of Bracknell, in the Bracknell Forest district, in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, England. The old village can still be easily ident ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

, was an English Member of Parliament and Chairman of the East India Company.

Life

Lushington was the third son of the Reverend Henry Lushington, vicar of

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...

. From 1782 he was a director of the

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

, and supported the reforms of the company being proposed by

Charles James Fox Charles James Fox (24 January 1749 – 13 September 1806), styled ''The Honourable'' from 1762, was a British British Whig Party, Whig politician and statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centurie ...

; these would have brought the company under the control of a board of commissioners appointed by Parliament, and it was intended that Lushington should be one of the assistant commissioners. In 1783, as Fox prepared to introduce his India Bill in the House of Commons, Christopher Atkinson, one of the MPs for

Hedon Hedon is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Holderness in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately east of Kingston upon Hull, Hull city centre. It lies to the north of the A1033 road at the cross ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, was convicted of fraud and would therefore be expelled from the House. Hedon was a

rotten borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or Electoral district, constituency in Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, or the United Kin ...

where the Foxites could expect their candidate to be elected, and Lushington's name was put forward by Prime Minister

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

to fill the vacancy. Atkinson was formally expelled from the Commons on 4 December 1783, and a writ for the by-election was issued. However, the following day the Commons amended the East India Bill to make the assistant commissioners ineligible to sit in Parliament. This forced Lushington to choose between an assistant commissionership and a seat in Parliament and, knowing that the majority of the East India directors opposed Fox's bill he decided the latter was preferable. On 15 December he was elected unopposed for Hedon, but on the same day the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

unexpectedly defeated Fox's India bill and the government fell. Lushington spoke in opposition to the East India bill proposed by the new government under

Pitt the Younger William Pitt (28 May 1759 – 23 January 1806) was a British statesman who served as the last prime minister of Great Britain from 1783 until the Acts of Union 1800, and then first prime minister of the United Kingdom from January 1801. He left o ...

, which placed control of the Company in the hands of a board appointed by the Crown rather than by Parliament. In the general election of 1784 he was a candidate at

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

, rather than defending his seat at Hedon, but was defeated. He was deputy chairman of the East India Company in 1789–1790, and its chairman for three terms - 1790–1791, 1795–1796 and 1799–1800. He was created a baronet on 26 April 1791. He returned to Parliament in 1790 as member for

Helston Helston () is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the The Lizard, Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth, Cornwall, Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: ...

, and was an MP for the rest of his life, subsequently also representing Mitchell, Penryn and Plympton Erle.

Family

In 1771 Lushington married Hester Boldero (d. 1830), whose father John settled the manors of

Aspenden Aspenden is a village and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is just to the south of Buntingford. The Prime Meridian passes just to the east of it. Its name, which means 'valley of aspen trees', was fir ...

and Berkesdon in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

on the couple. The family were based at

near Bracknell in Berkshire from 1787 to 1807. Their children included: * Sir Henry Lushington (1775–1863), who succeeded to the baronetcy * Sophia Lushington m. Denzil Onslow * Stephen Lushington (1782–1873), a Member of Parliament and later a judge * Charles Lushington (1785–1866), secretary to the government of Bengal and later also an MP * Hester Lushington.

References

* * * Lewis Namier & John Brooke, ''The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790'' (London: HMSO, 1964) * Dictionary of National Biography
Hertfordshire genealogy
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Lushington, Stephen 1744 births 1807 deaths British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1790–1796 British MPs 1796–1800 Lushington, Stephen, 1st Baronet Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Mitchell Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Plympton Erle People from Bracknell Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1801–1802 UK MPs 1802–1806 UK MPs 1806–1807 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Mitchell Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Penryn Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Helston