TILSON, Christopher (1670-1742), of St. Margaret’s, Westminster and Hampton Poyle, Oxon.

Tilson, who spent nearly 58 years at the Treasury, was the brother of George Tilson,PCC 259 Trenley. under-secretary of state for the northern department 1710-38, and grandson of Henry Tilson, bishop of Elphin, in Ireland. Buying the manor of Hampton Poyle in 1723,VCH Oxon. vi. 5, 162. he was returned for Cricklade in 1727, voting with the Administration, but did not stand again. He was chosen one of the directors of the Chelsea Waterworks in 1730 and deputy governor in 1733.HMC Egmont Diary, i. 90, 345. Questioned on 30 June 1742 by the secret committee of the House of Commons as to the sums issued for secret service while Walpole was at the Treasury, he replied

that he looked on all these monies to be of the same nature, that they are all without account, except as to what related to the solicitor of the Treasury, nor is there any entry in the Treasury of the application of any of these sums of money.CJ, xxiv. 246.

On his death, 25 Aug. 1742, Horace Walpole wrote that ‘old Tilson ... was so much tormented’ by the secret committee on Walpole that ‘it turned his brain and he is dead’.To Mann, 28 Aug. 1742.