Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 10.djvu/249

 On 6 Jan. 1681 Child was returned after a contest as a representative for St. Dunstan’s precinct of the ward of Farringdon without in the court of common council, one of his opponents being Mr. Taylor of the Devil tavern. It is stated in the ‘London Gazette’ of 3 Dec. 1683 that the subscriptions towards the lottery of the late Prince Rupert’s jewels, valued at 20,000l., were paid in to Mr. Child at Temple Bar. The king himself is said to have taken a great interest in the matter, and personally counted the tickets at Whitehall. It is also stated that Child was appointed by the Bishop of London to receive the collection made in February 1681-2 for the restoration of St. Albans Aabhey. In October 1689 Child was elected alderman of the ward of Farringdon without, and on the 29th of the same month he was knighted by William III at Guildhall on the occasion of the mayoralty banquet. Child was a whig, and now acted as one of the leaders of that party in the corporation. In 1690 the elections of mayor, sherilfs, and chamberlain were conteste on strictly political grounds, the church party putting orward Sir W. Hedges and Thomas Cook or the shrievalty, who were opposed by Child and Sir Edward Clark on behalf of the whigs. Child headed the 5011 by a narrow majority. On 29 Sept. 16 8 he was elected lord mayor for the following year. His inauguration took place on 29 Oct., and the pageant, prepared for the occasion by Elkanah Settle at the expense of the Company of Goldsmiths, was published in folio, with plates, under the title ‘Glory’s Resurrection, be° the Triumphs of London revived, for utge inauguration of the Right Honourable Sir Francis Child, Kt., Lord Mayor of the City of London,’ 1698. This eant is now ve scarce; a copy is preserved in the Guildgall Library.

The procession is described in the ‘London Gazette,' and appears to have been of more than usual grandeur. The ambassadors who were in town went into the city to see the sight, and on the return from Westminster the civic barrges stopped at Dorset Stairs, where the lord mayor and aldermen disembarked and were entertained by the Earl of Dorset. The procession afterwards landing at Blackfriars proceeded to Guildhall, accompanied by the lords justices, who were attended by the life guards and the horse grenadiers. Child is said by Luttrell (iv. 577) to have been 4,000l. out of pocket by the expenses of his year of office. The emoluments of the mayoralty at that time chiefly consisted of the money realised by the sale of such city offices as fell vacant during the year. During his mayoralty he took measures to regulate the price of corn, and appointed officers to attend daily at Queenhithe and post up the prices to prevent imposition upon the public. Child held the post of jeweller to the king, which he resigned in 1697, his successor bein Sir Stephen Exvans. His vast wealth enabled him to lend the government large sums of money. In August 1692 he joined Sir J. Herne and Sir S. Evans in an advance of 50,000l. to the crown to meet the expenses of the government of Ireland. Child was admitted a member of the Hon. Artillery Company in February 1689-90, and in March 1693-4 he was elected by the court of lieutenancy one of the six colonels of the city trained bands. These elections were political. Child’s party were again successful in 1702, but had to give way to their opponents in 1707.

The election of members of parliament for the city in December 1700 gave rise to an exciting struggle. Child, who was now a member of the tory party, was not successful, the four whig cancliidiates carrying the seats. He obtained one of the seats two years later in the first parliament of Anne, which was dissolved in April 1705. In 1708 the whig candidates were again successful, and in 1710 he was returned for Devizes as a colleague of Serjeant Webb. Child was master of the Goldsmiths’ Company in 1702, and appears from the state papers to have been connected in 1711 with the receipt of the land tax for Wiltshire (Treasury Papers, 1708-14, 279). He was a great benefactor to Christ's Hospital, and in 1705, while president, rebuilt the ward over the east cloister at his own cost. His portrait hangs in the hall of the hospital, and another portrait exists at Osterley Park, taken in 1699 in his lord mayor’s robes. For many years he lived at Fulham, in a mansion called East End House, which he built for himself on the east side of Parson’s Green. About 1711 he purchased the family seat of Osterley Park; but his son, Sir Robert Child, is said to have been the first of the family who lived there. Child died on 4 Oct. 1713, and was buried in Fulham churchyard, where a monument was erected to his memory. Lady Child survived her husband a few years, and was also buried at Fulham, 27 Feb. 1719-20. Child had twelve sons and three daughters, and was succeeded in the firm and also as alderman of Farringdon without by his sons Robert and Francis [q.v.], both of whom were afterwards knight. His daughter Elizabeth married Tyringham Backwell, son of Alderman Edward Backwellag [q.v.], the great goldsmith, who was ruined by the closing of the exchequer by Charles II in 1672. Two of the sons from his mayoralty he took measures to regulate this marriage, Barnaby and William, after-