Charles Gilpin (politician)
Encyclopedia
Charles Gilpin was a Quaker
, orator, politician, publisher and railway director. Amongst his many causes were the movement to repeal the Corn Laws
, to establish world peace through the Peace Society
, abolition of the death penalty and the anti-slavery movement, enfranchisement
by providing freehold land for purchase, liberation of Hungary from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Hungarian exiles in England, the Poor Law
and prison reform, Foreign relations . . . "a thorough liberal" (Biographical Catalogue)
on 31 March 1815, eldest of six surviving sons (there were seven daughters) of James Gilpin (1780–1855) and Mary Gilpin (born Sturge, 1789–1842), a sister of Joseph Sturge
.
He was educated at Sidcot School
from 1824 to 1828. At the age of 13, he organised a mock trial, "with great ability".
His first job was as a traveller for a Manchester warehouse. During this period he came under the influence of the liberal views of his uncle Joseph and Richard Cobden
. By way of their opposition to the Corn Laws
, Gilpin received a training in public speaking so successful that “before he was five-and-twenty, his services were widely sought in favour of many great public movements of the time” (Times obituary).
The number, gender and lives of their children is unclear:
to No. 5, Bishopsgate
Street Without in the City of London. The business was successful but in 1853, he retired to develop his other business, philanthropic and political interests.
Integrated Catalogue lists 76 titles printed by Charles Gilpin, including works by Elihu Burritt
, Henry Clarke Wright
, Jonathan Dymond, Pestalozzi
, George William Alexander
, Thomas Clarkson
, György Klapka
, William Wells Brown
, George Copway
and Giuseppe Mazzini
.
He also published a large number of memoirs of the lives of Quakers, including those of Elizabeth Fry
and William Allen
. He published the Scriptural verse of Lovell Squire
, his wife's sister's husband. He published Aunt Jane’s Verses, for Children ... Illustrated in 1851: Aunt Jane was Jane Crewdson
.
Gilpin published at least two books on the subject of water cure or hydropathy
. One, by E.S. Abdy was translated from German, the other was on the waters of Ben Rhydding
in West Yorkshire.
He published at least two books by the prison reformer Alexander Maconochie
.
He published the Proceedings of the second (Paris, 1849) and third (Frankfurt-am-Main, 1850) International Peace Congress
es.
.
constituency had been represented in Parliament by Fox Maule
, the heir apparent of his father, Baron Panmure
. He was Secretary at War
from July 1846 to January 1852, when for two or three weeks he was President of the Board of Control
(overseeing the British East India Company). In April 1852, he succeeded his father as 2nd Baron Panmure.
Fox Maule's appointment to the Board of Control necessitated a by-election. Gilpin challenged him, supported by local reformers and a meeting to nominate the candidate was held on Monday 9 February 1852. Maule defended his record in Parliament and in Office, "amidst mingled cheers and hisses".
Mr. Gilpin was also greeted by cheers and hisses and stated that 150 to 200 electors had invited him to stand as "the Rt Hon Gentleman had not fulfilled his profession of reform". Maule had justified the continuation of the Government Grant to the Catholic Maynooth College. Gilpin said he was against all state funding of religion and would vote against the continuation of the grant.
However, when Mr. Maule demanded a poll, despite a show of hands in Gilpin's favour, Gilpin withdrew and Maule was declared returned.
Maule's elevation to the House of Lords on the death of his father on 13 April 1852 caused a further by-election in Perth. However, he had already offered to stand for the Forfar constituency
.
The liberal contestants for Perth were Charles Gilpin and Hon. Arthur Kinnaird
and their supporters were almost equally divided between the two candidates. Through the Conservative vote, Gilpin lost to Kinnaird (325 against 225 votes). Gilpin did not stand for Parliament at the July 1852 General Election
.
, 1859
, 1865
and February 1874
, Gilpin was elected to represent the Northampton constituency
.
The failure of the bill led to Palmerston's resignation as Prime Minister and the general election of 1859
. This appointment did not please his fellow-Quaker, John Bright MP
, who remarked "Thou'd better have a rope put around your neck". Gilpin served until 1865.
, the Metropolitan
, and the Smyrna & Cassaba
Railways.
He was chairman of the National Freehold Company, Moorgate and the British Land Company from its establishment in 1857 until 1873 and a director of the National Provident Life Assurance Company.
, the Hungarian Nationalist. "His London residence, was the English home of Louis Kossuth and Garibaldi
".
[the annual gathering of British Quakers] . . . our Friend's sphere of action often seemed more political than religious, but we believe the motive power that influenced him was his acceptance of Christianity as a spiritual reality . . . intended for all men". In 1855, he was a member of the Committee of the Friends Temperance Union.
, London on 8 September 1874. More than 1,000 people attended his funeral at the Friends Burial Ground, Winchmore Hill
. His will left everything to his wife (except 50 guineas to several persons), and after her death, to their daughter, Mrs Anna Crouch Pigott.
At the by-election, following his death, Charles George Merewether (Conservative) was elected the for the Northampton Constituency, which Gilpin had represented for seventeen years.
The last executions in the United Kingdom
, by hanging, took place in 1964, Although not applied since, the death penalty remained on the statute book for certain other offences until 1998.
In 1968, Duke University
bought a large quantity of Charles Gilpin's papers, which are now carefully catalogued and available to scholars.
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
, orator, politician, publisher and railway director. Amongst his many causes were the movement to repeal the Corn Laws
Corn Laws
The Corn Laws were trade barriers designed to protect cereal producers in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland against competition from less expensive foreign imports between 1815 and 1846. The barriers were introduced by the Importation Act 1815 and repealed by the Importation Act 1846...
, to establish world peace through the Peace Society
Peace Society
The Peace Society, International Peace Society or London Peace Society originally known as the Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace, was a society founded on 14 June 1816 for the promotion of permanent and universal peace; it advocated a gradual, proportionate, and...
, abolition of the death penalty and the anti-slavery movement, enfranchisement
Forty Shilling Freeholders
Forty shilling freeholders were a group of landowners who had the Parliamentary franchise to vote in county constituencies in various parts of the British Isles. In England it was the only such qualification from 1430 until 1832...
by providing freehold land for purchase, liberation of Hungary from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Hungarian exiles in England, the Poor Law
Poor Law policy after the New Poor Law
Poor Law policy after the New Poor Law concerns the time period c.1847-1900 after the implementation of the Poor Law Amendment Act until the beginnings of the decline of the Poor Law system at the start of the 20th century.-Administration:...
and prison reform, Foreign relations . . . "a thorough liberal" (Biographical Catalogue)
Parents and education
He was born at BristolBristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
on 31 March 1815, eldest of six surviving sons (there were seven daughters) of James Gilpin (1780–1855) and Mary Gilpin (born Sturge, 1789–1842), a sister of Joseph Sturge
Joseph Sturge
Joseph Sturge , son of a farmer in Gloucestershire, was an English Quaker, abolitionist and activist. He founded the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society . He worked throughout his life in Radical political actions supporting pacifism, working-class rights, and the universal emancipation of...
.
He was educated at Sidcot School
Sidcot School
Sidcot School is a British co-educational independent school for boarding and day pupils, associated with the Religious Society of Friends. It is one of seven Quaker schools in England....
from 1824 to 1828. At the age of 13, he organised a mock trial, "with great ability".
His first job was as a traveller for a Manchester warehouse. During this period he came under the influence of the liberal views of his uncle Joseph and Richard Cobden
Richard Cobden
Richard Cobden was a British manufacturer and Radical and Liberal statesman, associated with John Bright in the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League as well as with the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty...
. By way of their opposition to the Corn Laws
Corn Laws
The Corn Laws were trade barriers designed to protect cereal producers in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland against competition from less expensive foreign imports between 1815 and 1846. The barriers were introduced by the Importation Act 1815 and repealed by the Importation Act 1846...
, Gilpin received a training in public speaking so successful that “before he was five-and-twenty, his services were widely sought in favour of many great public movements of the time” (Times obituary).
Marriage and children
He married Anna Crouch (1811–1892), daughter of William Crouch (1768?-1854) of Falmouth, accountant, and Lucretia Crouch (born Anson, 1777–1858).The number, gender and lives of their children is unclear:
- A daughter called Anna was born 1 December 1840, married on 21 September 1872 to Richard Pigott and was a beneficiary of Gilpin's Will.
- A biographical entry in Sidcot School: The Register of Old Scholars says Charles Gilpin married Anna Crouch c.1839 at Falmouth and had children named Anne, Louis and Charles.
- Milligan's Biographical Dictionary . . . says there were two sons and two daughters of the marriage.
- An obituary of Charles Gilpin says that an only son died, after a long illness, the sorrow of this loss leading to Gilpin's own death in 1874.
Publishing and book-selling
In 1842, Charles Gilpin moved to London and took over the stock of the bookseller's and publisher's business of Edward Fry (1783–1841) moving it from HoundsditchHoundsditch
Houndsditch is a street in the City of London that connects Bishopsgate in the north west to Aldgate in the south east. The modern street runs through a part of the Portsoken Ward and Bishopsgate Ward Without...
to No. 5, Bishopsgate
Bishopsgate
Bishopsgate is a road and ward in the northeast part of the City of London, extending north from Gracechurch Street to Norton Folgate. It is named after one of the original seven gates in London Wall...
Street Without in the City of London. The business was successful but in 1853, he retired to develop his other business, philanthropic and political interests.
Range of publications
The British LibraryBritish Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
Integrated Catalogue lists 76 titles printed by Charles Gilpin, including works by Elihu Burritt
Elihu Burritt
Elihu Burritt was an American philanthropist and social activist.-Biography:He was born December 8, 1810, in the town of New Britain, Connecticut....
, Henry Clarke Wright
Henry Clarke Wright
For more than two decades Henry Clarke Wright was a controversial abolitionist, pacifist, anarchist and feminist.-Early life:Clarke was born in Sharon, Connecticut to father Seth Wright, a farmer and house-joiner, and mother Miriam, a stay-at-home seamstress.When Wright was four his family moved...
, Jonathan Dymond, Pestalozzi
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi was a Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer who exemplified Romanticism in his approach....
, George William Alexander
George William Alexander
George William Alexander was an English financier and philanthropist. He was the founding Treasurer of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society in 1839. The American statesman Frederick Douglass said that he "has spent more than an American fortune in promoting the anti-slavery cause...
, Thomas Clarkson
Thomas Clarkson
Thomas Clarkson , was an English abolitionist, and a leading campaigner against the slave trade in the British Empire. He helped found The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade and helped achieve passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807, which ended British trade in slaves...
, György Klapka
György Klapka
--------György Klapka , also known as , or George Klapka, was a Hungarian soldier.Klapka was born at Temesvár, Kingdom of Hungary and entered the Austrian Army in 1838...
, William Wells Brown
William Wells Brown
William Wells Brown was a prominent African-American abolitionist lecturer, novelist, playwright, and historian. Born into slavery in the Southern United States, Brown escaped to the North in 1834, where he worked for abolitionist causes and was a prolific writer...
, George Copway
George Copway
George Copway was a Mississaugas Ojibwa writer, lecturer, and advocate of Native Americans. His Ojibwa name was Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-Bowh , meaning "He Who Stands Forever"....
and Giuseppe Mazzini
Giuseppe Mazzini
Giuseppe Mazzini , nicknamed Soul of Italy, was an Italian politician, journalist and activist for the unification of Italy. His efforts helped bring about the independent and unified Italy in place of the several separate states, many dominated by foreign powers, that existed until the 19th century...
.
He also published a large number of memoirs of the lives of Quakers, including those of Elizabeth Fry
Elizabeth Fry
Elizabeth Fry , née Gurney, was an English prison reformer, social reformer and, as a Quaker, a Christian philanthropist...
and William Allen
William Allen (Quaker)
William Allen FRS, FLS was an English scientist and philanthropist who opposed slavery and engaged in schemes of social and penal improvement in early nineteenth century England.-Early life:...
. He published the Scriptural verse of Lovell Squire
Lovell Squire
Lovell Squire was a Quaker schoolteacher, meteorologist and writer of sacred verse.-Birth and education:He was born 8 May 1809 at Earith in Huntingdonshire, the son of Lovell Squire and Sarah . His mother was a Recorded Minister of the Religious Society of Friends...
, his wife's sister's husband. He published Aunt Jane’s Verses, for Children ... Illustrated in 1851: Aunt Jane was Jane Crewdson
Jane Crewdson
Jane Crewdson , poet, was born at Perran-arworthal, Cornwall, on 22 Oct. 1808, being the second daughter of George Fox of that place , and was married at Exeter, in October 1836, to Thomas Dillworth Crewdson, a Manchester manufacturer...
.
Gilpin published at least two books on the subject of water cure or hydropathy
Hydrotherapy
Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy, involves the use of water for pain-relief and treating illness. The term hydrotherapy itself is synonymous with the term water cure as it was originally marketed by practitioners and promoters in the 19th century...
. One, by E.S. Abdy was translated from German, the other was on the waters of Ben Rhydding
Ben Rhydding
Ben Rhydding is a Wharfedale village in the Metropolitan Borough of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is part of the Ilkley urban area and civil parish....
in West Yorkshire.
He published at least two books by the prison reformer Alexander Maconochie
Alexander Maconochie (penal reformer)
Alexander Maconochie was a Scottish naval officer, geographer, and penal reformer.- Early life :Maconochie was born in Edinburgh on 11 February 1787. He joined the Royal Navy in 1803 and as a midshipman he saw active service in the Napoleonic Wars and was a prisoner of war from 1811 to 1814...
.
He published the Proceedings of the second (Paris, 1849) and third (Frankfurt-am-Main, 1850) International Peace Congress
International Peace Congress
International Peace Congress, or International Congress of the Friends of Peace, was the name of a series of international meetings of representatives from peace societies from throughout the world held in various places in Europe from 1843 to 1853...
es.
The Friend
In 1842, at the request of a weighty Quaker board, he launched and published The Friend, an open-minded evangelical Quaker magazine. The first issue was dated “First-month 1843”, under the editorship of Charles Tylor. In 1849, Gilpin purchased the publication from the board and was its editor from 1852 until 1857. The magazine is still in publication.The Court of Common Council
Gilpin was elected to The Court of Common Council of the City of London in 1848. He was largely instrumental in the abolition of street tollsToll road
A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
.
Perth by-election, 1852
Since 1841, the PerthPerth (UK Parliament constituency)
Perth was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1832 to 1918, 1918 to 1950, and 1997 to 2005. From 1832 to 1918 it was a burgh constituency. From 1918 to 1950, and 1997 to 2005, it was a county constituency...
constituency had been represented in Parliament by Fox Maule
Fox Maule-Ramsay, 11th Earl of Dalhousie
Fox Maule-Ramsay, 11th Earl of Dalhousie KT, GCB, PC , known as Fox Maule before 1852, as The Lord Panmure between 1852 and 1860 and as Earl of Dalhousie after 1860, was a British politician.-Background:...
, the heir apparent of his father, Baron Panmure
Baron Panmure
Baron Panmure, of Brechin and Navar in the County of Forfar, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 10 September 1831 for the Hon. William Maule, longtime Member of Parliament for Forfar. Born William Ramsay, he was the second son of George Ramsay, 8th Earl of...
. He was Secretary at War
Secretary at War
The Secretary at War was a political position in the English and later British government, with some responsibility over the administration and organization of the Army, but not over military policy. The Secretary at War ran the War Office. It was occasionally a cabinet level position, although...
from July 1846 to January 1852, when for two or three weeks he was President of the Board of Control
President of the Board of Control
The President of the Board of Control was a British government official in the late 18th and early 19th century responsible for overseeing the British East India Company and generally serving as the chief official in London responsible for Indian affairs. The position was frequently a cabinet...
(overseeing the British East India Company). In April 1852, he succeeded his father as 2nd Baron Panmure.
Fox Maule's appointment to the Board of Control necessitated a by-election. Gilpin challenged him, supported by local reformers and a meeting to nominate the candidate was held on Monday 9 February 1852. Maule defended his record in Parliament and in Office, "amidst mingled cheers and hisses".
Mr. Gilpin was also greeted by cheers and hisses and stated that 150 to 200 electors had invited him to stand as "the Rt Hon Gentleman had not fulfilled his profession of reform". Maule had justified the continuation of the Government Grant to the Catholic Maynooth College. Gilpin said he was against all state funding of religion and would vote against the continuation of the grant.
However, when Mr. Maule demanded a poll, despite a show of hands in Gilpin's favour, Gilpin withdrew and Maule was declared returned.
Maule's elevation to the House of Lords on the death of his father on 13 April 1852 caused a further by-election in Perth. However, he had already offered to stand for the Forfar constituency
Forfar (UK Parliament constituency)
Forfarshire was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of Great Britain of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1708 until 1800, and then in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom until 1950....
.
The liberal contestants for Perth were Charles Gilpin and Hon. Arthur Kinnaird
Arthur Kinnaird, 10th Lord Kinnaird
Arthur FitzGerald Kinnaird, 10th Lord Kinnaird , was a Scottish banker, Liberal politician and evangelical clergyman.-Background:...
and their supporters were almost equally divided between the two candidates. Through the Conservative vote, Gilpin lost to Kinnaird (325 against 225 votes). Gilpin did not stand for Parliament at the July 1852 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 1852
The July 1852 United Kingdom general election was a watershed election in the formation of the modern political parties of Britain. Following 1852, the Tory/Conservative party became, more completely, the party of the rural aristocracy, while the Whig/Liberal party became the party of the rising...
.
MP for Northampton
At the general elections 1857United Kingdom general election, 1857
-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987* British Electoral Facts 1832-1999, compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher *...
, 1859
United Kingdom general election, 1859
In the 1859 United Kingdom general election, the Whigs, led by Lord Palmerston, held their majority in the House of Commons over the Earl of Derby's Conservatives...
, 1865
United Kingdom general election, 1865
The 1865 United Kingdom general election saw the Liberals, led by Lord Palmerston, increase their large majority over the Earl of Derby's Conservatives to more than 80. The Whig Party changed its name to the Liberal Party between the previous election and this one.Palmerston died later in the same...
and February 1874
United Kingdom general election, 1874
-Seats summary:-References:* F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987* British Electoral Facts 1832-1999, compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher *...
, Gilpin was elected to represent the Northampton constituency
Northampton (UK Parliament constituency)
Northampton was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Northampton which existed until 1974.It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until its representation was reduced to one member for the 1918 general election...
Conspiracy to murder bill
Gilpin opposed the Conspiracy to murder bill of 1858, drafted in response to the attempted assassination of Napoleon III on 4 January 1858. The plot was hatched in England. The bill sought to increase the penalty for conspiring to murder persons abroad from a misdemeanour to a felonyFelony
A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
.
The failure of the bill led to Palmerston's resignation as Prime Minister and the general election of 1859
United Kingdom general election, 1859
In the 1859 United Kingdom general election, the Whigs, led by Lord Palmerston, held their majority in the House of Commons over the Earl of Derby's Conservatives...
Role in Government
In view of his opposition to the Conspiracy bill, it is surprising that Palmerston offered Gilpin a job in his 1859 Government and that Gilpin accepted, having negotiated that he would not be bound by the party whip. The job was Secretary of the Poor Law BoardPoor Law Board
The Poor Law Board was established in the United Kingdom in 1847 as a successor body to the Poor Law Commission overseeing the administration of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act...
. This appointment did not please his fellow-Quaker, John Bright MP
John Bright
John Bright , Quaker, was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, associated with Richard Cobden in the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League. He was one of the greatest orators of his generation, and a strong critic of British foreign policy...
, who remarked "Thou'd better have a rope put around your neck". Gilpin served until 1865.
Directorships
He was a director of the South EasternSouth Eastern Railway (UK)
The South Eastern Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1836 until 1922. The company was formed to construct a route from London to Dover. Branch lines were later opened to Tunbridge Wells, Hastings, Canterbury and other places in Kent...
, the Metropolitan
Metropolitan railway
Metropolitan Railway can refer to:* Metropolitan line, part of the London Underground* Metropolitan Railway, the first underground railway to be built in London...
, and the Smyrna & Cassaba
Smyrne Cassaba & Prolongements
The Smyrne Cassaba & Prolongements , formerly The Smyrna Cassaba Railway, was a railway company operating in Western Anatolia from 1863 to 1934.-History:...
Railways.
He was chairman of the National Freehold Company, Moorgate and the British Land Company from its establishment in 1857 until 1873 and a director of the National Provident Life Assurance Company.
Kossuth
Gilpin was a friend and supporter of Lajos or Louis KossuthLajos Kossuth
Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva was a Hungarian lawyer, journalist, politician and Regent-President of Hungary in 1849. He was widely honored during his lifetime, including in the United Kingdom and the United States, as a freedom fighter and bellwether of democracy in Europe.-Family:Lajos...
, the Hungarian Nationalist. "His London residence, was the English home of Louis Kossuth and Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...
".
As a Quaker
His obituary in The Friend says: "As a Friend, he took a warm interest in the welfare of the Society. His clear voice was often heard at Yearly MeetingYearly Meeting
Yearly Meeting is a term used by members of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, to refer to an organization composed of a collection of smaller, more frequent constituent meetings within a geographical area. These constituent meetings go by various names such as Quarterly Meetings, which...
[the annual gathering of British Quakers] . . . our Friend's sphere of action often seemed more political than religious, but we believe the motive power that influenced him was his acceptance of Christianity as a spiritual reality . . . intended for all men". In 1855, he was a member of the Committee of the Friends Temperance Union.
Death and legacy
After a period of illness, he died at his home, 10 Bedford SquareBedford Square
Bedford Square is a square in the Bloomsbury district of the Borough of Camden in London, England.Built between 1775 and 1783 as an upper middle class residential area, the sqare has had many distinguished residents, including Lord Eldon, one of Britain's longest serving and most celebrated Lord...
, London on 8 September 1874. More than 1,000 people attended his funeral at the Friends Burial Ground, Winchmore Hill
Winchmore Hill
Winchmore Hill is a district in the Borough of Enfield, North London, in the N21 postal district.- Location :With the Winchmore Hill conservation area as a focal point, Winchmore Hill is a ward of Enfield borough, bounded on the east by Green Lanes , Barrowell Green, Firs Lane and Fords Grove, and...
. His will left everything to his wife (except 50 guineas to several persons), and after her death, to their daughter, Mrs Anna Crouch Pigott.
At the by-election, following his death, Charles George Merewether (Conservative) was elected the for the Northampton Constituency, which Gilpin had represented for seventeen years.
The last executions in the United Kingdom
Capital punishment in the United Kingdom
Capital punishment in the United Kingdom was used from the creation of the state in 1707 until the practice was abolished in the 20th century. The last executions in the United Kingdom, by hanging, took place in 1964, prior to capital punishment being abolished for murder...
, by hanging, took place in 1964, Although not applied since, the death penalty remained on the statute book for certain other offences until 1998.
In 1968, Duke University
Duke University Library System
Duke University Libraries is the library system of Duke University, serving the university's students and faculty. The Libraries collectively hold some 6 million volumes....
bought a large quantity of Charles Gilpin's papers, which are now carefully catalogued and available to scholars.
Main Sources
- Obituary in The Times, 9 September 1874, p. 7; issue 28103, Column F: “The late Charles Gilpin M.P.”
- Edward H Milligan Biographical dictionary of British Quakers in commerce and industryMilligan's Biographical dictionary of British Quakers in commerce and industryThe Biographical Dictionary of British Quakers in Commerce and Industry 1775-1920, by Edward H. Milligan, includes entries for some 2,800 people, arranged alphabetically...
, 1775-1920, Sessions of York (2007) ISBN 978-1-85702-367-7. - Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library Guide to the Charles Gilpin Papers, 1832-1875, available as a .pdf download at Duke University Library website - Charles Gilpin page.
- Biographical catalogue of the Friends Institute (1888) pp. 279–280: "Charles Gilpin, MP Born 1815-Died 1874 - aged 59 years", quoting Illustrated London News 12 September 1874 and 19 September 1874.
External links
. Note: at 15 January 2010, this list was extremely incomplete.- Photographic images of Charles Gilpin, at the National Portrait Gallery http://www.npgprints.com/image/680712/maull-&%3B-polyblank-charles-gilpin and http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=publisher%3A%22London+%3A+Charles+Gilpin%22
- Books published by Gilpin on the Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=publisher%3A%22London+%3A+Charles+Gilpin%22
Further reading
- Harry Potter Hanging in judgement : religion and the death penalty in England from the bloody code to abolition; London : SCM Press, 1993 ISBN 0334025338
- "Friends & capital punishment" by Charles R. Simpson. - In: Friends' quarterly examiner; Vol.57; no.227 (Fourth Month 1923), p. 169-177