page_title: Sir Gilbert Heathcote, 1st Baronet
section_title: Political career
hierarchical_section_title: Sir Gilbert Heathcote, 1st Baronet / Political career
context_page_description: Sir Gilbert Heathcote, 1st Baronet was a British merchant and Whig politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1701 and 1733. He was a Governor of the Bank of England and was Lord Mayor of London in 1711.
context_section_description: At the 1698 English general election Heathcote stood for Parliament for the City of London, but was defeated. He became a member of the Russia Company in 1699. In 1700 he was master of the Vintners’ Company. He was returned as Member of Parliament for City of London at the first general election of 1701 but was expelled on 20 March 1701 for his share in the circulation of some exchequer bills. He was however returned at the second general election of 1701.
  Heathcote became an alderman for Walbrook on 30 June 1702 and was returned again as MP for London at the 1702 English general election. He was knighted by the Queen on 29 October 1702, when she was dining at banquet at the Guildhall. He was also a manager of the united trade of the English company trading with the East Indies from 1702 to 1704. He was elected Sheriff of London on midsummer-day 1703, having been fined in 1698 for declining the office, and served for the year 1703 to 1704. In 1705 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was a manager of the united trade again from 1705 to 1709. At the 1705 English general election he was returned again as MP for the City of London. He was a trustee for receiving the loan to the Emperor in 1706. From 1707 to 1710 he was a Colonel of the Blue Regiment of the city Militia, and was treasurer of the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) from 1708 to 1711. At the 1708 British general election he was returned again as MP for the City of London. He was governor of the Bank of England from 1709 to 1711. By an act of parliament extending the Bank's charter to 1710, Heathcote's gain was said to be 60,000l. At the 1710 general election he lost his parliamentary seat for the City of London.
  In 1710, when Heathcote was next in seniority for election as Lord Mayor of London, he was strongly opposed by the court party, who objected to the remonstrance he addressed to the queen, but the court of aldermen finally elected him and he served from 1710 to 1711. He was unpopular and for this reason his Lord Mayor's procession to Westminster on 30 October was cut short, and the livery companies attended him by water in their barges. He was the last Lord Mayor to ride on horseback in the Mayoral procession. He was vice-president of the HAC from 1711 to 1720 and resumed his command of the Blue Regiment in 1714 remaining as colonel for the rest of his life. 
  At the 1715 British general election Heathcote was returned as MP for Helston. He was appointed Commissioner for fifty new churches in 1715, remaining until 1727. By 1719 he was Governor of the Eastland Company. He was president of the HAC from 1720 for the rest of his life. At the 1722 British general election, he was returned as MP for New Lymington. He became president of St Thomas' Hospital in 1722 for the rest of his life. In 1725 he changed wards and became Alderman for Bridge Without ward, for the rest of his life. At the 1727 British general election he was returned as MP for St Germans. He purchased Normanton Hall in 1729 from Sir Thomas Mackworth, 4th Baronet. He was appointed a commissioner for the colony of Georgia in October 1732, and obtained much support for the proposal from his fellow-directors of the Bank of England. He was created a baronet in 1733, eight days before his death.
  Although extremely rich, Heathcote's meanness is referred to by Pope; and it was this trait that accounts largely for his unpopularity with the populace. He died in London on 25 January 1733 and was buried at Normanton Hall, a residence which he had purchased in 1729 from Sir Thomas Mackworth, 4th Baronet. A monument by the Flemish sculptor Rysbrack is now in Edith Weston church. Caleb Heathcote was his brother.
caption: Normanton Park, Rutland
exif: {}