LONDON, May 4 (Reuters) - British mortgage lending showed the biggest net increase on record in March, Bank of England data showed on Tuesday. Mortgage borrowing rose by a net 11.8 billion pounds ($16.4 billion) in March, the strongest since the series began in April 1993, the BoE said. British lenders approved 82,735 mortgages in March, down by about 5,000 from February, the BoE data also showed. A Reuters poll of economists had pointed to 92,300 approvals. ($1 = 0.7205 pounds) (Reporting by William Schomberg and David Milliken) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.