Stephen Bisse (c. 1672 – 1746), of Wimbledon, Surrey, was a British merchant and Whig 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. ...

between 1715 and 1741. He was associated with the Victualling Office for most of his life. Bisse was baptized on 23 January 1672, the son. of George Bisse of Martock, Somerset, and his wife. Mary. He married, by licence dated 18 December 1697, Elizabeth Goldsmith, daughter of Thomas Goldsmith In 1701, Bisse was a junior clerk to the accountant general of the Navy victualling office. He was appointed agent victualler of the Navy at Lisbon on 31 January1704 and was strongly recommended for his services there by Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell in December 1706. He was still at Lisbon in 1711. At the

1715 British general election The 1715 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 5th Parliament of Great Britain to be held, after the 1707 merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. In October 1714, soon afte ...

, he 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 ...

for

Great Bedwyn Great Bedwyn is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in east Wiltshire, England. The village is on the River Dun (River Kennet), River Dun about southwest of Hungerford, southeast of Swindon and southeast of Marlborough, Wilt ...

, when he was said to be offering £6 a vote. He voted with the Government in every recorded division. Also in 1715 he was appointed Commissioner of the Equivalent which he held until 1719. He lost his Parliamentary seat at the

1722 British general election The 1722 British general election elected members to serve in the House of Commons of the 6th Parliament of Great Britain. This was the fifth such election since the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. Tha ...

but was appointed Commissioner for victualling the navy in that year. In about 1724, he was appointed a clerk of the crown in Chancery. He lost his post in the Victualling office in 1727, but in 1732 was appointed senior agent victualler at Lisbon. He also became a Director of the

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 ...

from 1732 to 1733. In 1734 he accepted with reluctance the post of senior Commissioner for victualling, complaining to Walpole that it was a regression to a former post rather than the promotion he expected. Nevertheless, he retained the post for the rest of his life. At the

1734 British general election The 1734 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 8th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. Robert Walpole's incr ...

, he was returned as MP for

New Romney New Romney is a market town in Kent, England, on the edge of Romney Marsh, an area of flat, rich agricultural land reclaimed from the sea after the harbour began to silt up. New Romney, one of the original Cinque Ports, was once a sea port, w ...

. From 1735 to 1741 he was a director of the East India Company again. In Parliament, he voted with the Government on the Spanish convention in 1739. He was defeated at New Romney at the

1741 British general election The 1741 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 9th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election saw suppo ...

. Bisse lived at Wimbledon House on Parkside, Wimbledon, which he leased. He died without issue on 9 September 1746, said to be immensely rich. His fortune was inherited by his nephew Bisse Richards.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bisse, Stephen 1670s births 1746 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1715–1722 British MPs 1734–1741 Members of Parliament for Great Bedwyn