Family and Education

b. c.1689, 1st surv. s. of Sir Gilbert Heathcote, 1st Bt.. m. 5 Aug. 1720, Bridget, da. of Thomas White of Wallingwells, Notts., 2s. 6da. suc. fa. as 2nd Bt. 25 Jan. 1733.

Offices Held

Director, E.I. Co. 1716-24 and 1728-31; director, Bank of England 1725-35 (with statutory intervals); trustee, British Museum; pres. Foundling Hospital.

Biography

Heathcote was returned as a Whig for Grantham in 1715, but did not stand again till 1733 when he was returned unopposed at Bodmin, for which he sat till he was defeated in 1741. He voted with the Administration in every recorded division, except in that on the place bill in 1740 when he was absent. He supported the mortmain bill in 1736.1 After his defeat at Bodmin in 1741, he spent ‘seven months of the year’ at Normanton, living the life of a country gentleman. In November 1754 he hoped to be chosen for the county of Rutland, writing to Lord Hardwicke, whose daughter his son had married:

I haven’t heard that I am mentioned, though I would serve them if I was put up. I suppose as I have served the country, they expect I shall go on dealing with the miseries of the people, and doing their drudgery in which they will find themselves mistaken if I have not my country’s approbation. I should be glad to be any ways serviceable to the Government and particularly in being chose for this county, if I would be nominated by some of the principals, but hooting for oneself will never answer in my opinion.

But he failed to obtain Lord Exeter’s interest,2 and was not chosen. As the only surviving trustee and one of the commissioners of the Silesian loan, to which his father had contributed in 1710, he made representations to Newcastle on 29 Nov. 1752, and again on 4 Mar. 1755 about the stoppage of the last payment on the loan.3

He died 5 Sept. 1759, aged 70.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

• 1. Harley Diary.
• 2. Add. 35593, ff. 35-36, 52-53, 60, 360.
• 3. Add. 32730, f. 317; 32853, f. 109.