Nathaniel Jefferys (1758? – 3 March 1810) was a London jeweller who was

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

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

from 1796 to 1803.

Family and early career

Jefferys was the son of Nathaniel Jefferys (died 1786) and his wife Elizabeth. His father and uncle were goldsmiths, and in 1783, the younger Nathaniel set up in business and became jeweller to members of the

royal family A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/ rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term ...

and courtiers. About the same time, he married Mary, daughter of rich merchant William Knowlys and sister of John and Newman Knowlys. The couple lived richly, with a

townhouse A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence ...

in Pall Mall and a seaside villa by

Benjamin Bond-Hopkins Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thir ...

near

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...

. They had several daughters and one son, Nathaniel Newman Jefferys (1788–1873), later of Chepstow and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

and in 1817 a Master extraordinary in the Court of Chancery. In 1846, John Knowlys bequeathed Nathaniel Newman Jefferys a lump sum of £5000 and Nathaniel's sister Mary £200 a year.

Parliament and later career

William Wilberforce Bird invited Jefferys to stand alongside him in Coventry at the 1796 general election, and both were elected. In Parliament, Jefferys supported the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

(his leading customer, the future

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

) against the Pitt ministry. In 1797 he went bankrupt though his customers' failure to pay their bills; a subsequent attempt to restart with his father-in-law's support was unsuccessful. He lost Bird's support, but received that of Coventry

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

and narrowly held his seat at the 1802 election, ahead of Bird and his new protégé Peter Moore. Moore's election petition resulted in Jefferys' unseating on 11 March 1803, when the Commons decided that he did not meet the property qualification under the Parliament Act 1710, the land purportedly conveyed to him by William Bryant shortly before the election having been sold by Bryant some years previously. In 1806 he went bankrupt again, shortly after publishing a pamphlet attacking the Prince of Wales, whom he blamed for his debts and political failure. The Prince's defenders countered that Jefferys had gained other customers through his royal connection, and overcharged his clients. He subsequently worked as an

estate agent An estate agent is a person or business that arranges the selling, renting, or management of properties and other buildings. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a letting or management agent. Estate agents are mainly engaged i ...

and wrote

travel guides A guide book or travel guide is "a book of information about a place designed for the use of visitors or tourists". It will usually include information about sights, accommodation, restaurants, transportation, and activities. Maps of varying det ...

References

Publications

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Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jefferys, Nathaniel British MPs 1796–1800 UK MPs 1801–1802 UK MPs 1802–1806 English goldsmiths English jewellers People from Mayfair 1810 deaths 1750s births English travel writers British estate agents (people) Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Coventry Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Coventry