Archibald Hutcheson

Archibald Hutcheson (ca. 1659 – 12 August 1740) was a British Member of Parliament (MP) .

He was the son of Archibald Hutcheson of Stranocum, Co. Antrim. He trained as a barrister and was called to the bar in 1683. He was appointed Attorney-General of the Leeward Islands (1688–1702). In November, 1708 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.^[1]

He was returned as MP for the constituency of Hastings from 1713 until 1727. He was also elected MP for Westminster in 1722, but that election was declared void because Archibald was at that time still the member for Hastings. Westminster was the borough constituency with the largest electorate before the Reform Act 1832 (estimated by Namier and Brooke at about 12,000 voters later in the eighteenth century). Contested elections there were often hard fought.

He was an impassioned opponent of the repeal of the Triennial Act.

In his old age he took part in the efforts of Thomas Coram and others to establish a home for abandoned children in London. In 1739, the year before Hutcheson's death, a Royal Charter was granted by George II for a new charity which became known as the Foundling Hospital. The Charter listed Hutcheson as one of the founding governors.

He had married four times, secondly to Mary Gayer, widow, of Stepney, thirdly to Rebecca and fourthly to Elizabeth, widow of Colonel Robert Stewart of Montserrat

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References

• The House of Commons 1754-1790, by Sir Lewis Namier and John Brooke (HMSO 1964)
• The Parliaments of England by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844-50), second edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973)