Sir Fisher Tench, 1st Baronet

Sir Fisher Tench, 1st Baronet (c.1673—31 Oct 1736) was a City of London financier, who was a Member of Parliament and a director of several companies.

Fisher Tench was the son of Nathaniel Tench (died 1710) and his wife Ann (died 1696), daughter and heir of William Fisher, Esq. Alderman of London.Nathaniel Tench bought the Great House estate at Leyton about 1686. The original house was probably Essex Hall, formerly Walnut Tree House, the oldest surviving building in Leyton in 1968. Nathaniel was one of the first directors of the Bank of England, and its Governor from 1699 to 1701. Nathaniel had previously been an Eastland and East India merchant. Fisher was educated at the Inner Temple and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.

Nathaniel passed property at Leyton (comprising a capital message and 29 acres) to Fisher Tench and his wife Elizabeth in 1697. He inherited the rest of his father's estate in 1710, and probably soon after began to build the Great House at Leyton. It was a large mansion of two storeys, basement, and attics, built in the 'Wren' style of the period. The walls were of dark red brick with dressings of lighter brickwork and stone. The entrance front faced the high road and consisted of a central block flanked by lower and slightly recessed side wings. The main block had full-height Corinthian pilasters and a central pediment, while the wings had rusticated stone quoins. The whole façade, of thirteen bays, was surmounted by a modillion cornice, a panelled parapet, and hipped roofs with dormer-windows; six large stone vases broke the line of the parapet. The garden front was of similar size and character. The cupola from the house (demolished in 1905) is now on the tower of St. Mary's church.

Fisher Tench first sought to enter Parliament at Shaftesbury in 1708, when he was referred to as an East India merchant. He served a year as High Sheriff of Essex in 1711 and then became a Whig Member of Parliament for Southwark in 1713, when he and his fellow Whig candidate wore wool in their hats to signify their support of cloth manufacturers, in opposition to the concessions made by the Tory government in the commercial clauses of the Treaty of Utrecht (which were never ratified). The election was declared void in 1714, but both he and his fellow member were re-elected. He remained an MP until 1722, and was created a Baronet in 1715. His initial election was declared void in 1714, but he and his fellow member John Lade were both re-elected at the subsequent by-election, a keenly fought (and probably expensive) contest, but he was re-elected unoppsed in 1715. He withdrew from politics after he defeat at the election of 1722.

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