HUTCHINSON, Jonathan (c.1662-1711), of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumb.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

9 Feb. 1702 - 11 June 1711

Family and Education

b. c.1662, 1st s. of William Hutchinson, merchant, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne by Ruth Hodgson.  m. 2 June 1679, Mary, da. of Ambrose Barnes of Newcastle, 1s. d.v.p. 1da.  suc. fa. 1690.1

Offices Held

Member, merchant adventurers’ co. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1678, hostmen’s co. 1680, Eastland co. 1682; freeman, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1680, Berwick-upon-Tweed 1702; alderman, Newcastle-upon-Tyne Aug.–Nov. 1688.2

Trustee, Ld. Wharton’s Bible Trust 1710.3

Biography

Son of one of Newcastle’s leading merchants and most prominent Dissenters, Hutchinson shared his father’s Nonconformist sympathies and married the daughter of a prominent Presbyterian merchant. Hutchinson’s father-in-law was the leading figure active in Newcastle on James II’s behalf during the late 1680s, and in 1688 Hutchinson himself was appointed an alderman, being described by one observer as a ‘merchant’ and a ‘Whig’. Hutchinson was removed from this office after only three months, but his financial fortunes appear to have continued to rise, succeeding his father in 1690 and five years later purchasing the moiety of North Charlton, Northumberland. Hutchinson entered Parliament at the Berwick-upon-Tweed by-election of February 1702, presumably with the assistance of the town’s Dissenting interest, and retained the seat until his death. Though his contribution to the House appears to have been small, he was nevertheless esteemed for the fact that ‘he made not a penny profit to himself’ from his tenure in the Commons, and for his ‘honesty and steadiness to his principles’. This latter claim was supported by the anecdote that on one occasion, as Hutchinson was leaving the Speaker’s chamber, Robert Harley* said ‘come Mr Hutchinson, lend me your hand and let me help you down’, to which Hutchinson replied ‘“Sir, I thank ye, and I promise ye I had rather have your hand to help me down than to help me up”, meaning that he cared not to rise on the Tory side of the House’. Hutchinson did indeed prove himself a consistent Whig. On 13 Feb. 1703 he voted to agree with the Lords’ amendments to the bill for extending the time for taking the Abjuration, and the following year he was forecast as a probable opponent of the Tack and voted against the measure (or was absent) in the division on 28 Nov. 1704. A list of the new Commons of 1705 classed Hutchinson as ‘Low Church’, and on 25 Oct. he voted for the Court candidate for Speaker. On 18 Feb. 1706 he supported the Court in the proceedings upon the ‘place clause’ of the regency bill. In early 1706 Hutchinson was lobbied to secure the Tweed’s inclusion in a bill then pending to impose limitations on salmon fishing, and the following year to obtain compensation for the town in respect of tolls which would be lost at the Union. There is no evidence, however, as to how, or whether, Hutchinson pursued these matters. An analysis of the House dating from early 1708 classed him as a Whig, and Hutchinson confirmed these loyalties in the next Parliament, supporting in 1709 the naturalization of the Palatines, and voting the following year for the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell. In March 1710 he was listed as a subscriber of the Bank of England possessing at least £500 of stock. Classed as a ‘Whig’ in the ‘Hanover list’, Hutchinson obtained from the Duke of Marlborough (John Churchill†) in 1710 or early 1711 an agreement to build barracks for Berwick’s garrison. He left no further trace on the parliamentary record before his death on 11 June 1711. He was buried at All Saints, Newcastle, and left his estate to his wife and only daughter.4

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

  • 1. R. Welford, Men of Mark ’Twixt Tyne and Tweed, ii. 582–4; Mackenzie’s Hist. Acct. of Newcastle, 315; Arch. Ael. ser. 4, xxiv. 83–84.
  • 2. Newcastle Merchant Adventurers (Surtees Soc. ci), 307; Newcastle Hostmen’s Co. (Surtees Soc. cv), 274; Reg. of Freemen, (Newcastle Rec. Soc. iii), 98; Barnes Mems. (Surtees Soc. l), 73; N. Country Diaries (Surtees Soc. cxxiv), 186, 188.
  • 3. A. Dale, Good Ld. Wharton, 144–5.
  • 4. Welford, 584–6; N. Country Diaries, 186; New Hist. Northumberland, ii. 296–7; Barnes Mems. 72–73; Northumb. RO (Berwick), Berwick bor. recs. guild letter bk. 69/1, ff.125, 127, 131–2; Egerton 3359 (unfol.).