Benjamin Bathurst (courtier)


Sir Benjamin Bathurst was a British politician, a slave trader, a Governor of the East India and Levant companies and a Cofferer of the Royal Household.
He was born the 6th surviving son of George Bathurst of Theddingworth, Leicestershire. His family were supporters of King Charles I and after the latters execution he chose to move to live in Cadiz.
On his return to England as a wealthy man he married a close friend of Princess Anne, who obtained for him a position as Treasurer of her Household. He bought the manor of Paulerspury in Northamptonshire and became a London Alderman. He was also made Treasurer to the Duke of York and in 1682 was knighted.
He entered Parliament in 1685 to represent New Romney as a government nominee, but then chose to represent Bere Alston instead, for which he had also been elected. He held that seat until the election of 1689.
He was deputy governor of the East India Company in 1686-68 and 1695-96 and governor in 1688–90. He was a deputy-governor of the Royal Africa Company in 1680–82 and a sub-governor in 1682–4, 1685-6 and 1689–90. He was deputy governor of the Levant Company in 1686-87 and governor in 1688-89 and 1695. He was also Deputy Governor of the Leeward Islands.
In 1702, on the accession of Queen Anne, he was appointed Cofferer of the Household and again elected to Parliament to represent New Romney, holding both positions until his death in 1704.
He had married Frances, the daughter of Sir Allen Apsley of Westminster, and had 3 sons and a daughter. His 3 sons all became MPs themselves and were Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl Bathurst, Peter Bathurst and Benjamin Bathurst.

Involvement in the slave trade

With his senior appointments in the Royal Africa Company and the East India Company, Bathurst was heavily involved in the slave trade. The Royal Africa Company was set up in 1660 to trade along the west coast of Africa. It shipped approximately 100,000 African slaves to the Americas as part of the total Atlantic slave trade of 3.1 million by British and Portuguese traders. In 1700, Bathurst purchased Cirencester Park with earnings from commodities including Gold, Silver, cloth and spices as well as the proceeds of slavery. It is still owned by the Bathurst family. When Bathurst died, he left a fortune great enough to endow all three of his sons with country estates.