JOSEPH BANKS (d 1727) AND HIS PARLIAMENTARY CAREER

Several residents of Revesby have been elected to Parliament, although we might say that some have provided more honourable service there than others.

Let us look at Sir Joseph Banks (1665-1727).

Banks was still something of an outsider to Lincolnshire affairs when he decided to stand fore Great Grimsby in 1715. His opponent was Arthur Moore (c1666-1730), who was elected MP for Great Grimsby three times between 1695 and 1722. Moore was described as an ‘Irish adventurer’, indeed the rumour was that he had started life as a footman, but there were other rumours as well. He was said to have been the son of the gaoler in Monaghan and to have been ‘born in the tap house by the prison gate’ or actually ‘whelped in a manger’.^[1]

Moore was widely known as a corrupt Tory politician with many useful jobs he gained through his association with Lord Bolingbroke. He was comptroller of army accounts 1704-7, a director of the East India Company from 1706-9; a director of the South Sea Company 1711-14 and high steward of Great Grimsby in 1715. These roles included interest in slave trading through the Royal African Company from 1709-10.

By 1714 Moore was in a scandalous crisis, sacked from the East India Company and accused of having extorted £10,000 from two gentlemen. He was also suspected of having helped Bolingbroke to escape to France in 1715.

Joseph Banks (1695-1741) stood as a Whig at Grimsby and persuaded the voters to whom Moore owed money that they had no chance of getting any money back if he got elected – this was due to Parliamentary privilege. The voters believed Banks, and he was elected instead of Moore. Grimsby elected two MPs: Robert Chaplin came top, Banks got 35 and Moore 29.

Banks did not make much of a mark in Parliament. He voted solidly with his government and is only known to have spoken once – on improvements to the harbour in the rival port of Sunderland. He had a brush with financial scandal after buying some South Sea Company shares which he then resold at more than twice the original price although he could prove that he had actually paid for them – which was better than many politicians.

The town’s other MP, Sir Robert Chaplin, was also brought down by the South Sea scandal. Chaplin was expelled from Parliament in 1721 and Moore was elected in his place.

Chaplin (1670-1728) was a son of the Lord Mayor of London who settled at Louth and was made a baronet in 1715. His older brother John had gained lands at Tathwell through marriage and had preceded him as MP for Grimsby. Sir Robert portrayed his role in the South Sea Bubble crash of 1720 as something of the innocent dupe of Sir James Bateman, who was his son’s father-in-law. After the South Sea company collapsed, he was expelled from the House of Commons.

The 1722 election went badly for Banks. There were five candidates and Banks came bottom of the poll with no votes whilst Moore only managed seventeen. Top of the poll was Benjamin Collyer, whose brother-in-law was central to the South Sea Scandal. Banks though had some insurance – he managed to get elected at Totnes instead, but made no greater mark there either. However this was no great success: Totnes was a pocket borough and two MPs were elected from two candidates.

[1] Notes and Queries, March 1855, 158-9

ADRIAN GRAY MA

Historical Adviser

Pilgrims & Prophets Christian Heritage Tours