Sir James Sanderson, 1st Baronet (30 December 1741 – 21 June 1798) was an English banker, a Member of Parliament, an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

and

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...

. He also served as president of

Bridewell Hospital Bridewell Palace in London was built as a residence of King Henry VIII and was one of his homes early in his reign for eight years. Given to the City of London Corporation by his son King Edward VI for use as an orphanage and place of correc ...

(now a school), and was a member of

William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 175929 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becom ...

's Proclamation Society for the ''Discouragement of Vice''. After he died his widow married William Huntington S.S., an eccentric and polemical preacher who regarded himself as a prophet. Huntington used his new riches to build a £10,000 chapel.

Biography

James Sanderson was born in 1741. He was the only surviving son of James Sanderson of

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

. He started business buying and selling

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whi ...

before becoming a banker at Mansion House Street in

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

. In 1785, by which time he was an

, he was elected

Sheriff of London Two sheriffs are elected annually for the City of London by the Liverymen of the City livery company, livery companies. Today's sheriffs have only nominal duties, but the historical officeholders had important judicial responsibilities. They have ...

and knighted whilst in office. In 1792 he was elected

Lord Mayor of the City of London Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

. It was reported that this was a time: In the same year he was one of the three men returned as

Members 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 the Parliamentary constituency of Malmesbury. In 1793, Sanderson became president of

where he is acknowledged to have transformed the way it was managed. The hospital took in poor people and was a cross between a prison and a school. Later the institution's two roles were split, and in time the school became

King Edward's School, Witley King Edward's Witley is an independent co-educational boarding and day school, founded in 1553 by King Edward VI and Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London and Westminster. The School is located in the village of Wormley (near Witley), Surrey, Englan ...

. Sanderson was a member of

's Proclamation Society, which had been founded following a 1787 royal proclamation instituted by Wilberforce via the Archbishop of Canterbury. The ''Proclamation for the Discouragement of Vice'' was intended to be a remedy for a perceived rise in immorality. Sanderson was also a member of the

Philanthropic Society Catch22 is a social business, a not for profit business with a social mission which operates in the United Kingdom (England and Wales). Catch22 can trace its roots back 229 years, to the formation of The Philanthropic Society in 1788. Catch22 desi ...

and the vice-president of Magdelen Hospital. On 6 December 1794, Sanderson became Sir James Sanderson, Baronet of London. Pass Room Bridewell Microcosm

In the following parliamentary election he was returned as the member for

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

together with

Nicholas Vansittart Nicholas Vansittart, 1st Baron Bexley, (29 April 1766 – 8 February 1851) was an English politician, and one of the longest-serving Chancellors of the Exchequer in British history. Background and education The fifth son of Henry Vansittart ( ...

. Vansittart went on to be one of the most successful

Chancellors of the Exchequer Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

, whilst Sanderson became a friend and admirer of

William Pitt the Younger William Pitt the Younger (28 May 175923 January 1806) was a British statesman, the youngest and last prime minister of Great Britain (before the Acts of Union 1800) and then first prime minister of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Ire ...

and was "a favourite" of him and the king. Sanderson was married twice, first to Elizabeth Judd of

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...

. By his second wife, Elizabeth (née Skinner), Sanderson gave his name via his daughter, Elizabeth Skinner Sanderson, to his grandson, the physician Sir John Burdon-Sanderson. (Sanderson had made it a condition of his will that his heirs should take his surname; and in 1815 his new family took his

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

, from 1794, as well.) A painting of him, from which he was described as handsome, was placed in the court room of

Bridewell Royal Hospital The Bridewell and Bethlehem Hospitals were two charitable foundations that were independently put into the charge of the City of London. They were brought under joint administration in 1557. Bethlehem Hospital The Bethlem Royal Hospital was foun ...

. (The painting was at

in 2004.British and Irish paintings in public collections
Issue 1020, Christopher Wright et al, accessed September 2009) Sanderson's memorial at St Magnus-the-Martyr church in the City of London was thought notable by the architectural historian,

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

. After he died in 1799,Sir John Burdon Sanderson: A Memoir
by the late, Lady Burdon Sanderson, his niece and nephew, Archive.org, accessed September 2009 his widow married William Huntington S.S.'Notes on the aldermen, 1701–1838', The Aldermen of the City of London: Temp. Henry III – 1912 (1908), pp. 195–211. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=67248 Date accessed: 20 September 2009 Huntington preached at several chapels to rich and loyal congregations. His stepdaughter's father, Thomas Skinner was Lord Mayor from 1794 to 1795. Huntington had become involved with Lady Sanderson in about 1802, but his first wife did not die until 1806. After their marriage in 1808, Lady Sanderson continued to use Sanderson's surname whilst Huntington built a new chapel costing £10,000 (£ as of ). Lady Sanderson did not die until 1817, so she would have seen her husband's tombstone—on which his self-written epitaph identified him as a prophet.

Works

*Observations and examples to assist magistrates in setting the assize of bread made of wheat ... 1759

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanderson, James 1741 births 1798 deaths 18th-century lord mayors of London Sheriffs of the City of London Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain British MPs 1790–1796 British MPs 1796–1800 18th-century English politicians 19th-century English politicians Politicians from York Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies