John Hedges (26 February 1688 – 20 June 1737), of

Finchley Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. Finchley is on high ground, north of Charing Cross. Nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, Mill Hill and H ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

, was an English diplomat 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 1722 to 1737. Hedges was the fourth son of

Sir William Hedges Sir William Hedges (21 October 1632 – 6 August 1701) was an English merchant and the first governor of the East India Company (EIC) in Bengal. Life and career He was born in Coole in County Cork, Ireland, the eldest son of Robert and Catharin ...

of Finchley, and his wife Anne Nicol, daughter of Paul Nicoll of Hendon Place, Middlesex. His father was a merchant trading with Turkey,

Governor of Bengal The Governor was the chief colonial administrator in the Bengal presidency, originally the "Presidency of Fort William" and later "Bengal province". In 1644, Gabriel Boughton procured privileges for the East India Company which permitted them to ...

and Director of the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

from 1699 to 1700. Hedges was admitted at

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite ...

on 6 May 1706 and at

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in February 1708. Hedges was returned unopposed 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

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 the 1722 general election. In 1726, he was sent as Envoy Extraordinary to Turin, where he assisted with negotiations on the repartition of the two Sicilies and the Milanese. At the 1727 general election, he was returned unopposed as MP for

Bossiney Bossiney ( kw, Boskyny, meaning ''Cyni's dwelling'') is a village in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is north-east of the larger village of Tintagel which it adjoins: further north-east are the Rocky Valley and Trethevy. Until 1832 t ...

. In 1728, he was appointed Treasurer to the Prince of Wales, and held the post for the rest of his life. He was returned unopposed as MP for

Fowey Fowey ( ; kw, Fowydh, meaning 'Beech Trees') is a port town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town has been in existence since well before the Norman invasion, with the local ch ...

at the 1734 general election. He was a close friend and patron of artist Joseph Goupy.Grundy, C.R. 'Documents Relating to an Action Brought Against Joseph Goupy in 1738', ''The Volume of the Walpole Society, Vol. 9'', 1920 Hedges died unmarried on 20 June 1737.

References

1688 births 1737 deaths People from Finchley Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1722–1727 British MPs 1727–1734 British MPs 1734–1741 {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub

See also

References