Benjamin Haskins-Stiles (c.1684 - 4 April 1739), of

Bowden Park Bowden Hill is a village in Wiltshire, England, in Lacock parish about south of Chippenham and to the east of Lacock village. Bowden Hill has about 50 houses, a pub, and a small industrial estate. Origins of the name Bowden Hill was historica ...

, near

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

and Moor Park,

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, was an English landowner 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. ...

from 1721 to 1734. Moor Park Mansion

Haskins-Styles was the eldest son of Joseph Haskins Stiles, a sometime Amsterdam merchant and his wife Sarah Eyles, eldest daughter of Sir John Eyles, MP. After inheriting both his father's and younger brother Joseph's fortunes (1714 and 1719 respectively) he acquired several estates in Wiltshire, including Bowden Park, near Devizes and Calne manor and

Moor Park, Hertfordshire Moor Park is a private residential estate in the Three Rivers District of Hertfordshire, England. Located approximately northwest of central London and adjacent to the Greater London boundary, it is a suburban residential development. History ...

, where he commissioned

Giacomo Leoni Giacomo Leoni (1686 – 8 June 1746), also known as James Leoni, was an Italian architect, born in Venice. He was a devotee of the work of Florentine Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti, who had also been an inspiration for Andrea Pallad ...

and Sir

James Thornhill Sir James Thornhill (25 July 1675 or 1676 – 4 May 1734) was an English painter of historical subjects working in the Italian baroque tradition. He was responsible for some large-scale schemes of murals, including the "Painted Hall" at the ...

to remodel the house as a Palladian mansion. Haskins-Stiles 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 bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

Devizes Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century ...

at a by-election on 8 February 1721, replacing his uncle Francis Eyles, who had been expelled from Parliament as a director of the failed

South Sea Company The South Sea Company (officially The Governor and Company of the merchants of Great Britain, trading to the South Seas and other parts of America, and for the encouragement of the Fishery) was a British joint-stock company founded in Ja ...

. At the 1722 general election he was returned for Devizes and

Calne Calne () is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, southwestern England,OS Explorer Map 156, Chippenham and Bradford-on-Avon Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey A2 edition (2007). at the northwestern extremity of the North Wessex Downs h ...

and chose to sit for Devizes as a petition was outstanding at Calne. He was returned unopposed again for Devizes in

1727 Events January–March * January 1 – (December 21, 1726 O.S.) Spain's ambassador to Great Britain demands that the British return Gibraltar after accusing Britain of violating the terms of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. Britain ...

, but did not stand at the 1734 general election. Haskins-Stiles married twice, but left no surviving children. He died on 4 April 1739. He and his wife were laid to rest somewhere outside the Orangery. Moor Park was sold to Admiral

George Anson, 1st Baron Anson Admiral of the Fleet George Anson, 1st Baron Anson, (23 April 1697 – 6 June 1762) was a Royal Navy officer. Anson served as a junior officer during the War of the Spanish Succession and then saw active service against Spain at the Batt ...

in 1754.

References

1684 births 1739 deaths Politicians from Wiltshire People from Three Rivers District Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1715–1722 British MPs 1722–1727 British MPs 1727–1734 {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub