unsuccessfully as a Tory candidate for Essex at the 1705 general election, with the backing of Henry Compton, Bishop of London. At the 1708 general election, he was returned unopposed as Tory Member of Parliament for Maldon, Essex. During this session he acted as a teller for the minority in favour of an adjournment during the debate on the Whitchurch election, which had been fought by his wife's relative, Frederick Tylney. The House resolved that Tylney had not been duly elected. He also voted against the impeachment of Dr Henry Sacheverell. At the 1710 general election, Child was elected Tory MP for Essex on behalf of the Church Party, topping the poll. Over 90% of his vote consisted of "Plumpers", indicating his high popularity. He was a member of the October Club and in 1711 he was listed as one of the "Worthy Patriots" who had drawn attention to the mismanagement of the previous government. He voted for the French commerce bill on 18 June 1713. At the 1713 general election, he was returned unopposed for Essex, again with Compton’s support. He had become unpopular in the House, and Robert Harley referred to him as a jobber who had ‘made a prey of the poor’. In spite of this and the Hanoverian succession which favoured the Whigs, Child was again elected MP for Essex at the 1715 general election. Returned as a Tory he began to support the Whig government, voting for the Septennial Bill in 1716. His main concern was to obtain a peerage and although he purchased an Irish peerage from the Duchess of Munster in 1715, he had to wait until 1718 before he was created Baron Newtown and Viscount Castlemaine. As these were Irish peerages, he was still able to sit in the House of Commons. He voted for the repeal of the Occasional Conformity and Schism Acts, and against the Peerage Bill in 1719. He was defeated in the contest for Essex at the 1722 general election but was returned unopposed for Essex at the 1727 general election. He voted consistently for the government and by Act of Parliament on 13 June 1733 assumed name of Tylney. At the 1734 general election, he stood down from parliament in favour of his son John Tylney who failed to be elected. First elevation to the Peerage In June 1711 a rumour emerged that Child was about to