Arnold Nesbitt (c. 1721–1779), was a British merchant and 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. ...

between 1753 and 1779 . Nesbitt was the son of Thomas Nesbitt of Lismore, County Cavan and his wife Jane. He was apprenticed to his uncle Albert Nesbitt, a London merchant, and became his partner and heir. His uncle died on 12 January 1753 and Nesbit inherited his business, his estate at Icklesham and his political connections with the Pelham family. Lord Sandwich allowed Nesbitt to take over his uncle's seat 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 bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Mitchell Mitchell may refer to: People *Mitchell (surname) *Mitchell (given name) Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, a light-industrial estate * Mitchell, New South Wales, a suburb of Bathurst * Mitchell, Northern Territo ...

at a by-election in 1753 and was prepared to support him again in 1754 but Henry and James Pelham insisted upon his standing then at

Winchelsea Winchelsea () is a small town in the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex, England, located between the High Weald and the Romney Marsh, approximately south west of Rye and north east of Hastings. Th ...

. He married Susanna Thrale, daughter of Ralph Thrale MP on 28 November 1758. At this time he had several government contracts and worked in close partnership with

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

and George Colebrooke. These contracts included ones for money remittances to America in 1756, and for victualling troops at Louisburg and St. John's in North America & Guadeloupe and Quebec between 1758 and 1760. He had interest in a Dublin bank with George Colebrooke, and he was underwriting Government loans on a large scale. Nesbitt was asked to stand down at Winchelsea in the

1761 general election The 1761 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of Great Britain, House of Commons of the 12th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Sco ...

and instead was returned at

Cricklade Cricklade is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in north Wiltshire, England, midway between Swindon and Cirencester. It is the first downstream town on the Thames. The parish population at the 2011 census was 4,227. History Cricklade ...

. Although he had purchased the borough and hundred of Cricklade in 1764, he was defeated there at the general election of 1768, and only re-entered Parliament for Winchelsea in a by-election in January 1770. He was by then in partnership with Adam Drummond holding contracts for victualling troops in North America and Canada. After the outbreak of the American War, the size of the contracts was doubled and he received a grant of 20,000 acres in St John's Island. In the 1774 general election Nesbitt was returned as MP for Winchelsea unopposed, and as MP for Cricklade after a contest. He chose to sit for Cricklade until his death in 1779. He is not recorded as having spoken in all his time in Parliament. Nesbitt died aged 57 on 7 April 1779 and left most of his estate to his nephew John Nesbitt, after providing for two illegitimate sons

Colebrooke Nesbitt Colebrooke, Devon is a village and parish in the county of Devon, England. Colebrooke may also refer to: People * Baron Colebrooke, a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom * Henry Thomas Colebrooke (1765–1837), English orientalist and mathe ...

and Arnold Nesbitt.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nesbitt, Arnold 1720s births 1779 deaths British merchants British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies