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EYLES, Joseph (c.1690-1740), of Bishopsgate, London.
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Biography Detail
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Family and Education
b. c.1690, 4th s. of Sir Francis Eyles, 1st Bt., and bro. of John Eyles. m. Sarah, da. of Alderman Sir Jeffrey Jefferies, 1s. 2da. Kntd. 9 Dec. 1724.
Offices Held
Director, E.I. Co. 1714-17, 1721-2; director, Bank of England 1717-21, 1730-3; sub gov. London Assurance Co.; sheriff, London 1724-5; master, Haberdashers’ Co. 1724-5; alderman, London 1739-40.
Biography
A Turkey merchant, with extensive commercial interests in the Mediterranean, Joseph Eyles became one of the financial agents of the Government. On 15 July 1730 the Treasury board directed that ‘Mr. Pelham, paymaster of the forces, is for the future to receive proposals from Sir Joseph Eyles for the remittances required for the forces in Minorca and Gibraltar, or any other foreign service’.1 In 1739 his profits from this source were said to amount to £2,500 a year.2
Except in 1727, when he sat for Southwark, Eyles was returned on his family’s interest for Devizes. He voted with the Government in all recorded divisions other than that on the excise bill in 1733, which both he and his brother, Sir John Eyles, opposed. His only known speech was made on 30 Mar. 1739, when he seconded a motion for the repeal of the Test Act.3 He died 8 Feb. 1740.
