James Bateman (banker)

Sir James Bateman (29 April 1660[1][2] – 10 November 1718) was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1711 to 1718.

By the early 1690s he was back in London with a considerable fortune and carried on as an importer of wine from the Iberian peninsula.

[3] Bateman became an important player in the City of London and, subscribing to the Bank of England on its foundation in 1694, became one of its founding directors.

In 1705 he bought the Shobdon estate in Herefordshire and replaced the Jacobean house with a new Palladian style building, of which only the service block has survived.

[3] At the 1715 general election, he was defeated in a contest at Ilchester but was returned as MP for East Looe.