| Authorised form of name | Pitfeild; Alexander (1659 - 1728); politician |
| Other forms of name | Pitfield |
| Dates | 1659 - 1728 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Hoxton, Middlesex, England, Europe |
| Date of birth | 14 April 1659 |
| Date of death | 19 October 1728 |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Activity | Education:
Merchant Taylors' School; Charterhouse School; Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge (matriculated 1676); Lincoln's Inn (admitted 1676)
Career:
MP for Bridport (1698-1708) |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 19/11/1684 |
| Proposer | Richard Waller |
| Royal Society activity | Royal Society roles:
Treasurer 1700-1728; Council 1686, 1689-1697, 1699 |
| Relationships | Parents: Sir Charles Pitfeild and Winifred Adderley
Married: 1) Elizabeth Waller; 2) Dorothy Bodington
Children: total six, including Charles Pitfeild
Additional relatives: brother-in-law Richard Waller (FRS 1681) |
| Published works | RCN: 57977 |
| General context | Pitfeild's main work was a translation of Charles Perrault's 'A Natural History of the Animals' from French. He was also actively involved in schemes for poor relief in the parish of Shoreditch and in the building of a workhouse in Hoxton. In his will, he left substantial amounts to the workhouse, a charity school and the children of the parish of St Benet Fink. Later, the family's Hoxton estate passed to the Sturt family, later the Lords Allington and was auctioned off in 1917.
Pitfeild also held stocks in the East India Company and the South Sea Company. The Honorable East India Company (HEIC) was an English and later British company formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region. The company ended up seizing control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent (and briefly Afghanistan) and colonised parts of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. Originally chartered as the Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East-Indies, by Queen Elizabeth I in 1600, the East India Company rose to account for half of the world's trade, thereby amassing vast wealth, influence and private armies. The East India company enslaved people and exploited them for labour across their territories from 1621 until abolition of slavery in India in 1843.
The South Sea Company, founded in 1711, was created as a public-private partnership to consolidate and reduce the cost of the national debt. To generate income, in 1713 the company was granted a monopoly (the Asiento) to supply enslaved Africans to the islands in the 'South Seas' and South America. After the collapse of the so-called South Sea Bubble, the company survived and between 1715 and 1731 profited from the sale of over 60,000 enslaved Africans. |
| Related images | Discover a selection of related images in our picture library |
| Sources | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; Hunter; Venn; LI; Annals of Science (1973) vol 30, p87; History of Parliament
Authority:
Altname from Hunter
References:
Ezell, M J M. 1983-84. 'Richard Waller, SRS: "In the Pursuit of Nature"', in Notes and Records, vol. 38, pp. 215-233
Rivington, C A. 1985-86. 'Addendum. Early Printers to the Royal Society, 1662-1708', in Notes and Records, vol. 40, pp. 219-220
Notes:
Hunter gives year of birth as 1659. Venn has birthdate as 5 May 1658.
Biographical Information provided by Michael Pitfield, 2009. |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/47160055 |
| Royal Society code | NA4548 |