{{Short description|British businessman and politician (1679–1749)}} {{Use British English|date=August 2016}}
[[File:SirMatthewDecker ByTheodorusNetscher c1720 FitzwilliamMuseum.xcf|thumb|Sir Matthew Decker, portrait by Theodorus Netscher (1661-1728), Fitzwilliam Museum]] [[File:DeckerArms.svg|thumb|Arms of Decker: ''Argent, a demi-buck gules between his forelegs an arrow erected in pale or'', as confirmed in 1716 to Sir Matthew Decker, 1st Baronet, by Sir John Vanbrugh, Clarenceaux King of Arms, as used by his ancestors in Holland<ref name="Miscellanea Genealogica Et Heraldica - Google Books">[https://books.google.com/books?id=FlpIAAAAYAAJ&dq=decker++arms+demi+buck+arrow&pg=PA289 Miscellanea Genealogica Et Heraldica, Howard, Vol.4, 1892, p.289]</ref>]] [[File:Jan Andrea Lievens - Ruiterportret van Dirck Decker van Amsterdam (1671).jpg|thumb|Dirck Decker, father of Sir Matthew, with the Grote Kerk, Haarlem in the background.<ref>Slive</ref> 1671 portrait by Jan Andrea Lievens, Fitzwilliam Museum. Great grandfather of the founder of the Fitzwilliam Museum]] [[File:St Mary Magdalene's, Richmond, Decker and Richard FitzWilliam memorial.jpg|thumb|Monument to Sir Matthew Decker, 1st Baronet, Church of St Mary Magdalene, Richmond, showing the arms of Decker impaling Watkins ''Azure, a fess vair between three leopard's faces jessant-de-lys or'']] '''Sir Matthew Decker, 1st Baronet''' (1679 – 18 March 1749) (Dutch: ''Mattijs Decker'') of Richmond Green in Surrey, was a Dutch-born English merchant and economist who served as a Member of Parliament for Bishop's Castle in Shropshire from 1719 to 1722. He was a governor of the South Sea Company from 1711 to 1712, and a Director of the East India Company from 1713 to 1743. His published works show him as "such a strong supporter of the doctrine of free trade as to rank as one of the most important forerunners of Adam Smith",<ref>1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 7 Decker, Sir Matthew</ref> proposed amongst other measures, to abolish customs duties and replace them with a tax upon houses, to abolish the duty on tea replacing it with a licence duty on households wishing to consume it, and to repeal import duties and bounties in general. At his house in Richmond, he amassed a large collection of art, including many Dutch paintings, which later formed the core of the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum, founded by his grandson. He was a pioneer in the growing of exotic fruits in England, including pineapple and lemon, in his heated greenhouses at Richmond.
==Origins== Decker was born in 1679 in Amsterdam, the son of Dirck Decker of the City of Amsterdam, by his wife Katherina. Dirck was born in 1642/4 probably at Bloemendaal, near Haarlem, a son of Cornelius Decker, a linen bleacher at Bloemendaal. The portrait at the FitzWilliam of Dirck on horseback in sand dunes with the Grote Kerk, Haarlem in the background may also be a view of Cornelius's bleaching-grounds.<ref>Seymour Slive, ''Jacob Van Ruisdael: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, Drawings, and ...'', p.60 [https://books.google.com/books?id=97ITM8WEXR0C&dq=Dirck+Decker&pg=PA60]</ref>
The herald Sir John Vanburgh in his 1716 confirmation of arms to Sir Matthew<ref name="Miscellanea Genealogica Et Heraldica - Google Books" /> stated that Dirck was a "son of Cornelius Decker of Haerlem in the Province of Holland, and other his ancestors who were natives of Flanders (and retired from thence into Holland on account of their religion, during the Cruel Persecution of the Duke of Alva Governour of the Spanish Netherlands, in ye time of Queen Elizabeth)".
==Career== He was educated in Amsterdam and received his commercial education there under burgomaster Velters.<ref>George McGilvary, ''All for Union, Empire and Homeland: The Labours of “Honest John” Drummond''[https://books.google.com/books?id=wouADwAAQBAJ&dq=matthew+decker+south+sea+company&pg=PT51]</ref> By 1702, aged 23, he had moved to the City of London where he established himself as a merchant<ref name=Burke>{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=DqkTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA155 | page=155|title= A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland and Scotland |author= John Burke, Sir Bernard Burke, Bernard Burke |publisher = Scott, Webster, and Geary | date= 1841 |access-date = 25 September 2018}}</ref> specialising in linen.<ref name="McGilvary">McGilvary</ref> He was remarkably successful in his business life, gaining great wealth and honours. By 1710 he had become a major player in Anglo-Dutch commerce and had become the London correspondent for several Dutch banks, most notably Pels of Amsterdam.<ref name="McGilvary" /> He was one of the original directors of the South Sea Company from 1711 to 1712 and subscribed £49,271 for shares. However, after that year his interest turned instead to East India Company,<ref name="McGilvary" /> of which he became a director 1713, remaining until 1743. On 20 July 1716 he was created a baronet, "of the City of London", by King George I.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=5452 |date=21 July 1716 |page=2}}</ref>
In 1719 he was one of the original backers of the Royal Academy of Music, establishing a London opera company which commissioned numerous works from Handel, Bononcini and others.<ref>Thomas McGeary. ''The Politics of Opera in Handel's Britain''. Cambridge University Press, 2013. p.254</ref>
He had worked for James Brydges<ref name="McGilvary" /> (later 1st Duke of Chandos) when the latter was in the Low Countries serving as Paymaster of the Forces during the War of the Spanish Succession and in 1719 with his help was returned unopposed as a Member of Parliament for Bishop's Castle in Shropshire at a by-election on 17 December 1719. Chandos was a client of his for whom he bought paintings and tapestries in the Netherlands. In 1720 Decker was Assistant of the Royal African Company and became Deputy Governor of the East India Company, until 1721. He told Chandos in 1721 that he had had enough of Parliament, and did not stand in the 1722 general election.<ref name=HOP/>
Following the disaster of the South Sea Bubble, in the management of which company he had had no involvement for several years, in December 1720 Decker delivered a "gererous speech" in the Court of Directors of the East India Company in support of Walpole's proposed scheme for restoring public credit, namely of "ingrafting" 9 million South Sea stock into the Bank of England and a similar amount into the East India Company, of which he was then a director. Decker's speech was reported contemporaneously as follows:<ref>John Oldmixon, ''The History of England: During the Reigns of King William and Queen Mary'', London, 1735, p.706 [https://books.google.com/books?id=dvsiAQAAMAAJ&dq=matthew+decker+south+sea+company&pg=PA706]</ref><br/> :Sir Matthew Decker spoke with a true publick spirit, to the great reproach of such as set their hearts entirely on revenge, to the destruction of the South Sea directors, and seem'd careless in the consideration of the main point, the restoring credit. At first truly, (said Sir Matthew) I did not like this proposal but when I saw the ruin that was spread over our country, when I considered the distresses of the poor people when the nation and the parliament called upon us to support the public credit, I thought it would become no man to vote against it. I would, I declare, part with all my property in the Company, and I think I have as much as any body here: Nay, with all I have, to a bare necessary subsistence, to deliver the Kingdom from the miseries that have befallen it".
Decker was the Governor of the East India Company from 1725 to 1726 and was its chairman in 1725. He was selected to be Sheriff of Surrey in 1729. Also in 1729, he was Deputy Governor of the East India Company again, Governor from 1730 to 1733 and Chairman from 1730 to 1732.<ref name=HOP/>
==Residence in Richmond== His mansion house and estate stood on the site of today's "Pembroke Villas" 5 pairs of large semi-detached Victorian villas on the north-western side of Richmond Green,<ref name="Old Palace Lane to the Old Deer Park Gates">{{Cite web|url=https://www.richmond.gov.uk/richmond_green_old_palace_lane_to_the_old_deer_park_gates|title = Old Palace Lane to the Old Deer Park Gates}}</ref> adjacent to the site of Richmond Palace, demolished during the Commonwealth. The house was first built by Sir Charles Hedges (died 1714), Secretary of State to Queen Anne, from whom Decker acquired it. It later became the property of Decker's grandson Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Viscount FitzWilliam (1745-1816) who named it "FitzWilliam House" and there formed his famous art collection and by his will founded the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. The latter's heir was his cousin George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke (1759-1827), who renamed the house "Pembroke House". It was demolished in 1840.<ref name="Old Palace Lane to the Old Deer Park Gates" /> John Macky in his ''Journey through England'' (1722 to 1723), described the Decker estate at Richmond as follows:<ref name="Old Palace Lane to the Old Deer Park Gates" /><br/> :The longest, largest, and highest Hedge of Holly I ever saw, is in this garden, with several other Hedges of Ever-Greens, Visto's cut through Woods, Grotto's with Fountains, a fine Canal running up from the River. His Duckery, which is an oval Pond brick'd round, and his pretty Summer-House by it to drink a Bottle, his Stove-Houses, which are always kept in an equal heat for his Citrons, and other Indian Plants, with Gardeners brought from foreign Countries to manage them, are very curious and entertaining. The house is also very large a-la-modern, and neatly furnished after the Dutch way.
===Pineapple pioneer=== [[File:Decker'sPineapple TheodorNetscher FitzWilliamMuseum.jpg|thumb|1720 painting of Sir Matthew Decker's prized English-ripened pineapple, by Theodorus Netscher (1661-1728), FitzWilliam Museum]] A 1720 painting of Sir Matthew Decker's prize English-ripened pineapple, by Theodorus Netscher (1661-1728), survives in the FitzWilliam Museum, on which is inscribed in Latin: "To the perpetual memory of Matthew Decker, Baronet, and Theodore Netscher, Gentleman. This pineapple, deemed worthy of the royal table, grew at Richmond at the cost of the former, and still seems to grow by the art of the latter. H(enry) Watkins (Decker's brother-in-law) set up this inscription, A.D. 1720". This appears to indicate that Decker served a pineapple to King George I.<ref>https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/picture-this-16-portrait-of-a-pineapple-fitzwilliam-museum; See also 'John Rose (1619–1677), the Royal Gardener, Presenting a Pineapple to King Charles II (1630–1685)' (after a painting attributed to Henry Dankerts) Thomas Stewart (1766–c.1801) National Trust, Ham House [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/called-john-rose-16191677-the-royal-gardener-presenting-a-pineapple-to-king-charles-ii-16301685-217099]</ref>
Richard Bradley in his ''General treatise of husbandry and gardening for the month of July'' (1723) described the pineapple enterprise on the estate as follows:<ref name="Old Palace Lane to the Old Deer Park Gates" /><br/> :Tis not long since I was Eye-witness to several fruited Pine Apples at Sir Matthew Decker's, at Richmond, about Forty in number; some ripening, and others in a promising condition; the least of which Fruit was above four Inches long, and some were as large as any I have seen brought from the West-Indies: I measured one near seven inches long in pure fruit, and near thirteen Inches about… I proceed to give an Account of the method now practis'd at Sir Matthew Decker's at Richmond, for the production of this excellent Fruit, which Mr Henry Telende his judicious Gardener has render'd so easy and intelligible, that I hope to see the Ananas flourish for the future in many of our English Gardens, to see the honour of the Artist, and the Satisfaction and Pleasure of those who can afford to eat them.
In 2019 The Fitzwilliam Museum stated: "Pineapples have long welcomed visitors to the Fitzwilliam Museum. Spiky green railings bookended with life-size gilded pineapples adorn the museum's balustrade...In recognition of its unique place in pineapple history, the Fitzwilliam Museum commissioned Bompas & Parr to create a giant 'Architectonic Pineapple' to grace its front lawn. And in February 2020, the curators will further explore the fruit's journey from luxury to every day food in a conference dedicated to pineapples".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cam.ac.uk/afeastforthesenses|title = A feast for the senses|date = 29 November 2019}}</ref>
==Marriage and children== {{multiple image | align = right | image1 = HenriettaWatkins LadyDecker c1715 FitzwilliamMuseum.jpg | width1 = 150 | alt1 = | caption1 = | image2 = Watkins OfBadbyNorthants Arms.svg | width2 = 154 | alt2 = | caption2 = | footer = '''left''': Henrietta Watkins, wife of Sir Matthew Decker, portrait c.1715, Fitzwilliam Museum; '''right''': Arms of Watkins: ''Azure, a fess vair between three leopard's faces jessant-de-lys or'' as seen impaled by Decker on Chinese porcelain plates now in the British Museum<ref>see image File:DeckerImpalingWatkins Circa1720 BritishMuseum.xcf</ref> and on the Decker monument at St Mary Magdalene, Richmond}} thumb|Daughters of Sir Matthew Decker; 1718 portrait by Jan de Meyer, Fitzwilliam Museum At some time before 1711 he married Henrietta Watkins, one of the 16 children<ref>Seven sons and nine daughters, per inscription on monument of Elizabeth Hyckes in Whichford Church, see image [https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5132237]</ref> of Rev. Richard Watkins (1627-1709), Rector of Whichford in Warwickshire<ref name = HOP>{{cite web| url = https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/decker-sir-matthew-1679-1749| title=DECKER, Sir Matthew, 1st Bt. (1679-1749), of Richmond, Surr. | publisher= History of Parliament Online| access-date = 26 September 2018}}</ref> (where survives his mural monument<ref>[https://warwickshirechurches.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/2/1/13210589/1061773_orig.jpg See image]</ref>) by his wife Elizabeth Hyckes<ref name="WATKINS, Henry (c.1666-1727)">Biography by Andrew A. Hanham of ''Watkins, Henry (c.1666-1727), of Christ Church, Oxford, and Duke Street, Westminster, Mdx.'', published in History of Parliament: House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002 [http://www.histparl.ac.uk/volume/1690-1715/member/watkins-henry-1666-1727]</ref> (1638-1709)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol5/pp205-209|title = Parishes: Whichford | British History Online}}</ref> whose separate mural monument survives in Whichford Church.<ref>[https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5132237 see image]</ref> Henrietta's brother (through whom Sir Matthew met his future wife<ref name="McGilvary" />) was Henry Watkins (1666-1727) an army administrator and diplomat who served briefly as a Member of Parliament for Brackley in Northamptonshire, and who spent much time in the Low Countries and The Hague, described as a "dedicated servant and admirer" of the Duke of Marlborough.<ref name="WATKINS, Henry (c.1666-1727)" /> By his wife he had issue one son (who died young) and three daughters as follows:<ref name=HOP/> *A son who died young; *Catherine Decker (died 1786), who married Richard FitzWilliam, 6th Viscount FitzWilliam, and had issue<ref>22 Geo. 3. c. 59 "An Act for vesting in the Crown certain hereditaments at Richmond in the county of Surrey belonging to Catherine, Viscountess FitzWilliam...."</ref> at least seven children including Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Viscount FitzWilliam (1745-1816) of Mount Merrion, Dublin, Ireland, who inherited the Decker mansion and art collection at Richmond, but died without legitimate issue; by his will founded the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. *Henrietta Anne Decker (died 1747), who married John Talbot, a judge and MP, but had no issue.<ref>Burke's Peerage 1833 4th Edition Vol. 2 p,519</ref> *Mary Decker, wife of William Croftes of West Harling in Norfolk and of Little Saxham in Suffolk and mother of Richard Croftes (1740-1783), MP.
==Publications== Decker's fame as a writer on trade rests on two tracts. The first, ''Serious considerations on the several high duties which the Nation in general, as well as Trade in particular, labours under, with a proposal for preventing the removal of goods, discharging the trader from any search, and raising all the Publick Supplies by one single Tax'' (1743; name affixed to 7th edition, 1756), proposed to do away with customs duties and substitute a tax upon houses. He also suggested taking the duty off tea and putting instead a licence duty on households wishing to consume it. The second, an ''Essay on the Causes of the Decline of the Foreign Trade, consequently of the value of the lands in Britain, and on the means to restore both'' (1744), has been attributed to W. Richardson, but internal evidence is strongly in favour of Decker's authorship. He advocates the licence plan in an extended form; urges the repeal of import duties and the abolition of bounties, and, in general, shows himself such a strong supporter of the doctrine of free trade as to rank as one of the most important thinkers in the early development of economic science.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=41827152 | last = Nevin | first = Seamus |title=Richard Cantillon – The Father of Economics| journal = History Ireland | year = 2013 | volume = 21 | issue = 2 | pages = 20–23 }}</ref>
==Death and legacy== Decker died on 18 March 1749, without a surviving male heir and the baronetcy became extinct. He was buried at St Mary Magdalene, Richmond, where survives his monument (above a vault) against the external wall of the church, in the form of a broad-based obelisk (on which is affixed a baroque escutcheon displaying a relief of the arms of Decker impaling Watkins) topped by an urn, atop an antique Roman sarcophagus standing on a chest tomb base. The tomb was sculpted by Peter Scheemakers in 1759.<ref>dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis</ref>
A modern inscription on a tablet of stone superimposed on the base of the monument is as follows:<ref>Possibly a restoration (perhaps placed here by the FitzWilliam Museum?)</ref> :In the vault beneath were interred the remains of Sir Matthew Decker Bart. on the 25th of March 1749 and of his relict Lady Decker on the 12th of May 1759. Also of Catherine their daughter and wife of Richard 6th Viscount FitzWilliam of Mount Merrion in the County of Dublin in the Kingdom of Ireland. She died on the 8th of March 1786. The remains of Richard Viscount FitzWilliam son of the above-named Richard and Catherine were also interred here. He died on the 4th of February 1816 in the 71st year of his age and by his will founded and endowed the museum at Cambridge that bears his name
His fortune and estates passed to his surviving daughter Catherine, and then to her son Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Viscount FitzWilliam.
==References== {{reflist}} *{{EB1911|wstitle=Decker, Sir Matthew|volume=7|page=913}}
{{S-start}} {{s-par|gb}} {{s-bef | before=Richard Harnage | before2=Charles Mason}} {{s-ttl | title=Member of Parliament for Bishop's Castle | with=Charles Mason | years=1719–1722}} {{s-aft | after=William Peere Williams | after2=Bowater Vernon}} {{s-hon}} {{succession box | before=John Wall | title=High Sheriff of Surrey | years=1728–1729 | after=Samuel Kent}} {{s-reg|gb-bt}} {{s-new|creation}} {{s-ttl|title=Baronet'''<br />(of London)'''|years=1716–1749 }} {{s-non|reason=Extinct}} {{s-end}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2014}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Decker, Matthew}} Category:1679 births Category:1749 deaths Decker, Matthew, 1st Baronet Category:English economists Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Category:English businesspeople Category:Businesspeople from Amsterdam Category:High sheriffs of Surrey Category:Directors of the British East India Company Category:Dutch emigrants to England Category:History of the pineapple Category:18th-century British merchants