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TOWER, Christopher (?1694-1771), of Huntsmoor Park, Bucks.
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Biography Detail
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Family and Education
b. ?1694, 1st s. of Christopher Tower of Huntsmoor Park, dep. collector of customs for London, by his 1st w. Elizabeth, da. of Richard Hale of New Windsor; bro. of Thomas Tower. educ. Trinity, Oxf. 7 May 1712, aged 17. m. (1) 1719, Jane (d. 20 Nov. 1739), 2nd da. of William Proctor of Epsom, Surr., 2da. of whom Jane m. her cos. Sir William Beauchamp Proctor, 1st Bt.; (2) 25 Oct. 1746, Jane, 1st da. and coh. of George Tash of Delaford, 1s. suc. fa. 1728.
Offices Held
Director, Bank of England 1734-40 (with statutory intervals).
Biography
Christopher Tower’s paternal grandparents came from Wyredale and Tatham, near Lancaster,1 where he was returned as a Whig at a by-election in 1727, heading the poll at the ensuing general election. In June 1732, he and his brother Thomas, both consistent government supporters, were granted the reversion of the two lucrative posts of auditor of the imprest,2 which they never enjoyed. With his brother, in February 1734, he absented himself from the division on a place bill, of which he approved, to avoid disobliging the ministry. Having succeeded his father at Huntsmoor, he transferred to Aylesbury for the general election of 1734. A trustee of the Georgia Society, he did not become a common councilman till March 1738, when he began to attend board meetings regularly. Like his brother he came to be regarded by the board as one of Walpole’s ‘creatures’, absenting himself for political reasons from an important meeting in December 1740, soon after which he seems to have given up attending.3 Put up by the Administration for Bossiney at the general election that year, he was defeated at the poll but was returned on petition in time to vote on 16 Dec. 1741 for Walpole’s candidate for chairman of the elections committee. Unseated on a further petition after Walpole’s fall, he did not stand again and died 26 Sept. 1771.
