330
NOTES AND QUERIES, [ii s. in. AFRIL 29, wn.
The Walton and Cotton Club was founded
in 1817, and re-established in 1810, and the
medal may be connected with some incident
in its history. The medal is not in the
British Museum collection. W. B. H.
Hitplit*.
BARLOW TRECOTHICK. (11 S. ii. 209, 298, 335 ; iii. 11.)
SOME particulars regarding this City poli- tician are recorded at the above pages, but, by reason of his conspicuous position in life, a more detailed account of his career is desirable.
A curious reference to him occurs in Boswell's notice of the celebrated dinner given by the publishing firm of Dilly in the Poultry on 15 May, 1776, when Johnson and Wilkes were present. After Wilkes had dwelt on the " queer " name of Elkanah Settle, the last of the City poets, Johnson started the inquiry, " Where did Beckford and Trecothick learn English ? " Boswell refers to this subject in September, 1777, with the commentary : " That Trecothick could both speak and write good English is well known. I myself was favoured with his correspondence concerning the brave Corsicans" (Boswell, ed. Hill, iii. 76, 201). The translation of a letter from General Paoli (Corsica, 20 March, 1769) to Trecothick and S. Vaughan, acknowledging the " gene- rous assistance" of the English, is printed in The Gentleman's Magazine for 1769, p. 214.
Johnson meant to infer that Trecothick was an American. This was an error ; he was an opulent merchant in the American and West Indian trade, but a memorandum by Alexander Chalmers states that he was " born of English parents in London, and registered in Stepney parish " (Henry Cavendish, ' Debates,' pub. 1841, i. 396), This would be about 1719. His father is stated by MB. ALBERT MATTHEWS to have been Capt. Mark Trecothick, a mariner (d. circa 1734), and his mother was callec Hannah.
Trecothick plunged into the public lif of the City of London in 1764. He was a member of the Company of Clothworkers and was sworn in as Alderman of the Vintry Ward on 19 January, 1764, retaining tha position until 1 November, 1774. In 1766 he was elected as Sheriff of London, anc he represented the City in Parliament from
768 to 1774. He was a member of the
leputation that waited on the King with a
emonstrance, when Beckford, as Lord
Mayor, made his famous speech, and he
accordingly figures in the caricatures of the
day (F. G. Stephens, ' Satirical Prints at the
British Museum,' iv. 535-6, 667). When
Beckford, through his exertions on this
)ccasion, became ill and died (June, 1770),
Trecothick was elected to the vacant office
f Lord Mayor, and some imagined that he
would serve for the next year also ; but
- his was not the case (' Grenville Papers,'
v. 520).
In and out of Parliament Trecothick supported the cause of Wilkes " with judg- ment.' ' They were, however, no t on intimate ms of friendship, and Wilkes wrote a Ditter summary of the annals of his col- eague's Mayoralty (Percy Fitzgerald, ' John Wilkes,' ii. 121). Trecothick was said to be stingy, and this was probably the reason why he was Lord Mayor for four months only.
Trecothick spoke frequently and well in Parliament, and was in general opinion ' by far the ablest man of the party that ruled the City in that day " (Horace Wai- pole's ' George III.,' ed. Barker, iii. 127). His speech on 8 February, 1769, on the report of the Committee relating to the disturb- ances in America, was complimented by Frederick Montagu, and attacked by Thomas Townshend, jun. ; and Lord Beauchamp. He seconded (19 April, 1769) Governor Pownall's motion for the repeal of Charles Townshend' s American Revenue Act of 1767 (Cavendish, ' Debates,' vol. i.).
Lord Chatham said in the House of Lords on 22 November, 1770 :
" Let me do justice to a man whose character and. conduct have been most infamously traduced. I mean the late Lord Mayor, Mr. Trecothick. In the midst of reproach and clamour he had firmness enough to persevere in doing his duty. I do not know in office a more upright magistrate, nor in private life a worthier man." ' Par!. Hist.,' xvi. 1101.
The Marquess of Buckingham and Treco- thick were united in opinion on many political questions, and are said to have drawn up "a General Letter sent to the out-ports and manufacturing towns on the 6th of December, 1765." Trecothick was one of the most efficient politicians in bringing about the repeal of the Stamp Act from 1 May, 1766, and he helped to ensure the success of the grand dinner in celebra- tion of its repeal which was given at the Drapers' Hall on 23 April in that year, when the leading Whigs (including nine
