Sir David Hechstetter (or Heckstetter, Hetchetter, Hochstetter, or Hockstetter; c. 1659 – 14 June 1721) was a director of the

Company of Merchant Adventurers of London The Company of Merchant Adventurers of London was a trading company founded in the City of London in the early 15th century. It brought together leading merchants in a regulated company in the nature of a guild. Its members' main business was exp ...

(the Hamburg Company) and a land-owner in

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 ...

and

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 ...

. He was a justice of the peace for Middlesex and was knighted in 1714.

Early life

David Hechstetter was born around 1659. His place of birth is unknown. According to John Burke, he changed his name from Hockstetter (see Höchstetter) to Hechstetter and his family were accorded great honour in Germany by Emperor Maximilian of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

Family

Hechstetter married twice, first to a lady by the name of White, and secondly to a lady named Harrison who was originally from the

Duchy of Brunswick The Duchy of Brunswick (german: Herzogtum Braunschweig) was a historical German state. Its capital city, capital was the city of Braunschweig, Brunswick (). It was established as the successor state of the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel ...

.Edmonton.
British History Online. Retrieved 25 December 2018. One of his wives was treated by the naturalist and physician

Martin Lister Martin Lister FRS (12 April 1639 – 2 February 1712) was an English naturalist and physician. His daughters Anne and Susanna were two of his illustrators and engravers. J. D. Woodley, ‘Lister , Susanna (bap. 1670, d. 1738)’, Oxford Dict ...

when she fell ill and Hechstetter wrote to Lister in 1699 when she recovered. His son, who succeeded him, was also named David. His younger son was named Christopher and his daughters were Mary and Anne. Mary's son was

David Michel David Robert Michel (c.1735-1805) was the member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Lyme Regis Lyme Regis is a town in west Dorset, England, west of Dorchester and east of Exeter. Sometimes dubbed the "Pearl of Dorset", it lies by ...

(c. 1735 – 1805), the member of Parliament for

Lyme Regis Lyme Regis is a town in west Dorset, England, west of Dorchester and east of Exeter. Sometimes dubbed the "Pearl of Dorset", it lies by the English Channel at the Dorset–Devon border. It has noted fossils in cliffs and beaches on the Herita ...

in the 1780s.Michel, David Robert (?1735–1805), of Dewlish, Dorset.
''The History of Parliament''. Retrieved 29 December 2018.

Career

David Hechstetter was a director of the

(the Hamburg Company). He was an investor in the Bank, the old

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

, and the

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 ...

in which he had four votes.21 March 1699: Hechstetter, David, d. 1721 (London, England) to Lister, Martin, 1639–1712 (London, England).
Early Modern Letters. Retrieved 26 December 2018. In 1704, he acquired land at Dancers Hill in

from Thomas Andrews on which the current Dancers Hill House was built around 1750–60.South Mimms: Manors.
British History Online. Retrieved 24 December 2018. He was a

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for Middlesex and was knighted in 1714. He resided at

Minchington Hall Minchington Hall, or Mincington Hall, or Minchenden House, was a country house and estate in Southgate, then in the county of Middlesex in England, and now in Greater London. It was on Southgate Green and the south side of Waterfall Road, a ...

Southgate Southgate or South Gate may refer to: Places Australia *Southgate, Sylvania *Southgate Arts and Leisure Precinct, an area within Southbank, Victoria Canada *Southgate, Ontario, a township in Grey County * Southgate, Middlesex County, Ontario Ed ...

, Middlesex, as lessee from 1714 and purchased land that was part of the Minchington estate from Sir Nicholas Wolstenholme in 1716.

Death and legacy

Hechstetter died on 14 June 1721. Price, Jacob M.br>"The Tobacco Adventure to Russia: Enterprise, Politics, and Diplomacy in the Quest for a Northern Market for English Colonial Tobacco, 1676-1722."
''

Transactions of the American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

'', New Series, Vol. 51, No. 1 (1961), pp. 1–120. His 1720 will is held by the

British National Archives The National Archives (TNA, cy, Yr Archifau Cenedlaethol) is a non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Its parent department is the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sp ...

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

and left his estate principally to his wife, Dame Mary Hechstetter, and their children, with legacies of £200 to

Christchurch Hospital Christchurch Hospital is the largest tertiary hospital in the South Island of New Zealand. The public hospital is in the centre of Christchurch city, on the edge of Hagley Park, and serves the wider Canterbury region. The Canterbury District Heal ...

and £300 to his cousin John Lister. He directed that his body be buried in the vault of the chapel of St Arnold's without any "pompous ostentation".Will of Sir David Hechstetter of Edmonton, Middlesex.
National Archives. Retrieved 25 December 2018. A marble memorial to Hechstetter stood in the nave of the Weld Chapel, Southgate. It was removed to

Christ Church, Southgate Christ Church, Southgate, is a Church of England parish church in Waterfall Road, Southgate, London. It describes itself as a " liberal catholic Church of England parish". The building is grade II* listed with Historic England. In 2014 the churc ...

, when the chapel was demolished in the mid-nineteenth century. It includes Hechstetter's coat of arms.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hechstetter, David 1721 deaths English landowners English merchants Year of birth uncertain English knights Knights Bachelor English justices of the peace English people of German descent 1650s births Date of birth unknown Place of birth unknown