MEAD, John (c.1662-1727), of the ‘Black Lion’, Temple Bar, London

Mead’s father was a goldsmith and banker, one of whose clients was the Jacobite Lord Ailesbury (Thomas, Lord Bruce†). In 1704, on Lord Ailesbury’s behalf, he made a vain attempt to deliver a clandestine message to the Duchess of Marlborough at Windsor Castle. He also acted as an agent for the army contractor Richard Harnage*. Mead himself had been made a partner in his father’s business by 1710, when both men were listed as owning at least £4,000 worth of Bank stock each. Returned for Sudbury in 1710 after a contest, he was described by one contemporary observer of the election as a ‘Canary merchant’. He was classed as a Tory in the ‘Hanover list’, and also as a ‘Tory patriot’ who opposed the continuation of the war and a ‘worthy patriot’ who exposed the mismanagements of the old ministry. It was probably Mead rather than his father who invested over £7,000 in the South Sea Company in 1711, in an unsuccessful attempt to become a director. He is not known to have spoken in debate, though he did report a shipowners’ petition on 10 June 1712, and carried up a private estate bill on 14 July 1713. On the French commerce bill he had voted with the Court on 18 June, being also noted in the printed division list as a Member concerned in trade. This vote might have made him unpopular in Sudbury, but he did not stand for re-election in 1713.3 Hilton Price, 114; Ailesbury Mems. 570–1; Chandler, v. 82–83; BL, Trumbull Alphab. mss 54, Ralph Bridges to Sir William Trumbull*, 23 Oct. 1710; P. G. M. Dickson, Financial Revol. 449; Hist. Jnl. iv. 196.

Mead died of a fever on 5 Dec. 1727, when he was described as ‘an eminent banker of Temple Bar’.4 The Gen. n.s. vii. 112; Boyer, Pol. State, xxxiv. 612.