NEWLAND, Sir Benjamin (c.1633-99), of Cowes, I.o.W. and Mark Lane, London

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

4 Nov. 1678 - Mar. 1681
1685 - 1687
1689 - Dec. 1699

Family and Education

b. c.1633, s. of William Newland, merchant, of Newport, I.o.W.  educ. Pembroke, Camb. adm. 10 Dec. 1648, aged 15.  m. lic. 12 Apr. 1671, Anne, da. of Robert Richbell†, merchant, of Southampton, Hants, 1s. 1da.  Kntd. 3 Aug. 1679.1

Offices Held

Freeman, Southampton 1671; common councilman, London 1675–7, 1682–3, 1688, 1692; alderman, London 1683–7.2

Asst. R. African Co. 1675–7, 1682–4, dep. gov. 1678–9, sub-gov. 1680–1; commr. public accts. 1691–4.3

Biography

A merchant and former alderman of the city of London, originally of Cowes on the Isle of Wight, Newland had been associated with the Tories in the previous two reigns. However, following his election in 1690 in a contest at Southampton, where he had acquired an interest through his marriage, he was listed by Lord Carmarthen (Sir Thomas Osborne†) as a probable Court supporter. He was chosen by the Commons as a commissioner of public accounts on 20 May 1690, but the session ended before the enabling bill could pass. However, in the next session he was re-elected a commissioner on 26 Dec. 1690, and the commission began its duties in January 1691. Around this time he was listed as a probable supporter of Carmarthen in the event of an attack upon the minister in the Commons. In April 1691 Newland was noted by Robert Harley* as a Court supporter. Newland’s appointment as one of the commissioners of accounts, with a salary of £500 p.a., was renewed by the Act passed in the 1691–2 session which continued the commission until 25 Apr. 1694, though he was not re-elected to the commission thereafter. On 14 Nov. 1691 he spoke against a recommendation by the committee on naval estimates that the charge for building four new fourth-rates should be left out of the estimates for the following year, and on 3 Dec. made a short speech explaining certain details of a report presented to the House by the commissioners of accounts. In April 1695, during the Commons’ investigation of Sir Thomas Cooke’s* payments to MPs while governor of the East India Company, it was revealed in the accounts of his intermediary, Sir Basil Firebrace*, that Newland had been paid two separate sums of £1,000 and £280 on 19 Nov. 1693 and 22 Jan. 1694. However, these disclosures do not appear to have had any adverse effect on his standing as a public figure.4

At the 1695 election Newland successfully contested Southampton once again. He was forecast in January 1696 as likely to oppose the government on the proposed council of trade, though he signed the Association promptly. In March he voted against fixing the price of guineas at 22s, but the following session he appears to have been absent from the division on the attainder of Sir John Fenwick†. Having been returned unopposed for Southampton in 1698, Newland was classed in September as a Country supporter in an analysis of the old and new Parliaments. However, he voted for the government on the standing army in January 1699. He died intestate later that year, and was buried on 11 Dec. 1699 at All Hallows church in Barking, Essex. Administration of his estate was granted to a London merchant, John Winter, as Newland’s two children, Mary and Benjamin, were still minors, and Newland’s brother, Francis, was in Spain.5

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: Paula Watson

Notes

  • 1. Woodhead, Rulers of London (London and Mdx. Arch. Soc.), 120, 138; Hants Mar. Lic. 1669–80, p. 28; Prob. 6/75/218.
  • 2. Southampton RO, Southampton bor. recs. SC3/1/1, f. 232; Woodhead, 120.
  • 3. Woodhead, 120.
  • 4. Ibid. 120; HMC Lords, iii. 47, 50–52, 54–55, 66–67; Chandler, ii. 382, 388; EHR xci. 35, 39; H. Horwitz, Parl. and Pol. Wm. III, 140; Luttrell Diary, 19; Cobbett, Parlty. Hist. v. 669; Grey, x. 196.
  • 5. Woodhead, 120; Prob. 6/75/218.