NAPIER, Sir Nathaniel, 3rd Bt. (?1668-1728), of Middlemarsh Hall and Critchell More, Dorset.

Sir Nathaniel Napier was descended from Sir Robert Napper or Napier, M.P., chief baron of the Irish Exchequer, who acquired Middlemarsh about 1592 and built and endowed the almhouse in Dorchester, known as Napper’s Mite, in 1615.Hutchins, Dorset, ii. 370; iii. 125; iv. 481, 483-4. Four generations of his family had represented Dorset boroughs or the county since 1586; and he himself sat for Dorchester in nine Parliaments, for two of which, 1702-5, he was joined by his father. A Tory under Queen Anne, no votes of his in the 1715 Parliament have been recorded. His name was sent to the Pretender in 1721 as a probable supporter in the event of a rising.Stuart mss 65/16. He did not stand again, dying 24 Feb. 1728.