Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood
Encyclopedia
Sir Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood, 1st Baronet
, (9 May 1801 – 12 April 1866) was an English landowner
, developer and Member of Parliament, who founded the town of Fleetwood
, in Lancashire
, England. Born Peter Hesketh, he changed his name by Royal assent to Hesketh-Fleetwood, incorporating the name of his ancestors, and was later created Baronet Fleetwood. Predeceased by an older brother, he inherited estates in west Lancashire in 1824. Inspired by the transport developments of the early 19th century, he decided to bring the railway to the Lancashire coast and develop a holiday resort and port. He hired architect Decimus Burton
to design his new town, which he named Fleetwood; construction began in 1836. Hesketh-Fleetwood was instrumental in the formation of the Preston and Wyre Railway Company and with his financial support, a railway line was built between Preston and Fleetwood
which opened in 1840.
Hesketh-Fleetwood married twice and had several children, most of whom died in infancy. His new town flourished, but the expense of building it left him close to bankruptcy and forced him to sell most of his estates including Rossall Hall, which had been his family home. He left Lancashire and died in London, succeeded by his son Louis.
, in Wennington
, near Lancaster
, the second son of Robert and Maria (née Rawlinson) Hesketh. He had an older brother, Edward, a younger brother, Charles, and a younger sister, Anna. He was descended (through his paternal grandmother) from the Fleetwood family who had owned the large Rossall
estate in West Lancashire for over 200 years. Robert inherited the estate in 1819 on the death of his elder brother, Bold, and the family relocated to the manor house, Rossall Hall, on the Fylde
coast. On Robert's death in 1824, the estate passed to Peter, his elder brother Edward having predeceased him in 1820. By that time the family's land extended from Heysham
in the north, to North Meols
, near Southport
, in the south, and encompassed most of the Fylde.
Hesketh was educated, along with his younger brother Charles, at Trinity College, Oxford
. Although Charles was a studious young man, who planned to enter the church on graduation, Peter had an active social life in both Oxford and London. He holidayed in southern resorts including St Leonards-on-Sea
, a new development in Sussex
, where he admired the work of architect James Burton
. He became close friends with Burton's son Decimus
, who was also an architect. The two men were involved in the formation of London's Athenaeum Club
and Burton designed the club's building in Pall Mall
. Hesketh received his Bachelor of Arts
degree in 1823 and his Master of Arts degree in 1826. That same year, he married Eliza Debonnaire Metcalfe, the daughter of Sir Theophilus Metcalfe, 2nd Baronet, commonly known by her middle name. Debonnaire's father gave the couple a house in Dover
, but they also spent time at the Rossall estate. The couple were very close to Charles and his new wife Anna, and their sister Anna, and her husband Thomas Knowlys. Charles was ordained in 1828 and as patron of St Chad's Church
in Poulton-le-Fylde
, Peter presented his brother with that curacy.
Hesketh enjoyed looking after the Rossall estate (which had no steward or agent), but struggled to keep on top of finances; he was an indulgent landlord. He became an enthusiastic member of the Lancashire Agricultural Society and was concerned about the fate of local farm workers who were losing their jobs because of increased mechanisation. Hesketh was gradually becoming more interested in the lives and conditions of the working classes.
The Heskeths' first child, Anna Maria (known as Maria to distinguish her from three close relatives named Anna), was born in 1827. Three more children—named Metcalfe Bold, Debonnaire and Frances—all died in infancy. In 1831 Hesketh changed his name by royal license to Hesketh-Fleetwood, incorporating the better-known family name of his ancestors into his own. Debonnaire contracted tuberculosis
and died in early 1833. Shortly before Debonnaire's death Hesketh-Fleetwood contracted scarlet fever
. This was followed by erysipelas
, a bacterial infection so severe that it necessitated the removal of one of his eyes. At the end of the year, the Rossall estate was severely flooded and suffered damage costing about £3,000 to repair. Hesketh-Fleetwood subsequently spent very little time at Rossall.
In 1837 in Belgium, Hesketh-Fleetwood married Virginie Marie Garcia, the daughter of a Spanish nobleman. Maria, his daughter with Debonnaire, contracted tuberculosis and died in 1838 at Regent's Park
, aged 11. She was interred in a glass coffin in the family vault at St Chad's, Poulton
. Around the same time as Maria's death, Virginie gave birth to a son, Peter Louis. In 1841, on the death of his aunt, Anna Maria Hesketh, Hesketh-Fleetwood succeeded to Tulketh Hall
in Preston.
in 1830. In 1831 he was invited to stand as a Tory Party candidate for the constituency of Preston
. He had similar views to Tory statesman Robert Peel
and readily agreed to stand. Hesketh-Fleetwood opposed monopolies
, slavery
and capital punishment
and was in favour of reforming the Corn Laws
. At the 1832 general election
, he was elected—along with his friend, Henry Stanley—Member of Parliament
for Preston, in the first parliament following the Reform Act
. He made his maiden speech to parliament in 1834.
Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837, and in June the following year Hesketh-Fleetwood was knighted in the Coronation
honours list and created Baronet Fleetwood
. He was remained MP for Preston until the 1847 general election
, although towards the end of his parliamentary career he was recorded as a Liberal
MP. In 1840 he translated Victor Hugo
's pamphlet, The Last Day of a Condemned Man, with a foreword entitled "Observations on capital punishment" that made clear Hesketh-Fleetwood's abolitionist stance on the issue.
steadily increased in the first half of the 18th century, and Hesketh was impressed by the arrival in 1828 of the steam locomotive
in Lancashire. As High Sheriff of Lancashire, he attended the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway
on 15 December 1830. The event filled him with great excitement at the idea of bringing the railway to the coast and enabling Lancashire mill workers to take day-trips to the seaside.
As he discussed the idea with his brother Charles, Hesketh soon realised that day-trippers would need certain facilities that were not yet available, and decided that a new town would need to be built. He initially planned to site his town and railway terminus
near the village of Thornton
, but it was not close enough to the coast for his liking. He eventually decided on Rossall Point, a small peninsula north of Rossall Hall, at the mouth of the River Wyre
, which was then an uninhabited rabbit warren. Although bleak and waterlogged, the area had views of Morecambe Bay
and the Lake District
.
Hesketh was influenced in the early planning stages by his friends, including mill owners Samuel Fielden and Benjamin Whitworth. They pointed out that mill workers would not wish to make day trips to the seaside all year round, and wondered how the people of the new town would be occupied during the winter months. They encouraged Hesketh to build a new port; because charges at Liverpool
were on the rise, and there were no reasonable alternatives for Manchester mill owners, both Whitworth and Fielden agreed that they would make good use of a port on the Fylde coast. Hesketh soon found that he was not the only one thinking of extending the railway, or of building a new port. He had competition from the residents of Lytham, a village about 13 miles (20.9 km) south of Rossall, at the mouth of the River Ribble
. They were already planning the formation of the Preston Port Company; Hesketh acted quickly and applied to the official railway committee to have a port built on the River Wyre. The committee agreed to hear all applications.
Charles met Frederick Kemp, a land agent newly arrived in Poulton from his native Essex, and introduced him to his brother, who was on the lookout for a steward or agent. Kemp, well-dressed and charming, made a good impression on Hesketh, who employed him immediately. At the meeting of the railway committee Hesketh put forward a persuasive argument. Despite opposition from the Lytham contingent the committee decided that Rossall Point was the best place for the railway terminus to be built, and the Railway and Port Company was formed. In the early 19th century it was thought that steam locomotive
s would be unable to negotiate hilly terrain, and that Lake District hills like Shap Fell would prevent the railway from reaching Scotland. The Fylde terminus would have even more importance than Hesketh had hoped, providing a sea link for passengers from London to travel on to Scotland. Initially Hesketh had considered naming his new town New Liverpool or Wyreton, but after changing his name to Hesketh-Fleetwood in 1831 he decided to call it Fleetwood
. With a new career in parliament to prepare for, he readily handed over financial management of the project to his manager, Frederick Kemp.
After Debonnaire's death in 1833, Hesketh-Fleetwood immersed himself in his development plans. Southport
, a town he owned much of, was becoming a popular sea bathing
resort, and Hesketh-Fleetwood organised the construction of a promenade. He was becoming concerned over delays on the part of the Railway and Port Company and decided to get on with building Fleetwood. He hired his old friend Decimus Burton
, who had become a successful architect, and together they discussed what buildings would be required. Hesketh-Fleetwood wanted a church, docks, housing, a gas office, a school and a hotel. Burton agreed that a hotel would be important for passengers to spend the night before travelling on to Scotland. Because those passengers would be arriving from Euston railway station
in London, Hesketh-Fleetwood decided to call the hotel the North Euston Hotel. Burton's plans were ready by 1835.
In 1835, still frustrated by the lack of activity on the part of the Railway and Port Company, Hesketh-Fleetwood organised the formation of the Preston and Wyre Railway Company to raise the funds required to bring the railway to Fleetwood. The estimated cost was £122,000. The company obtained Royal assent to start construction, with an underwritten
guarantee from Hesketh-Fleetwood. The following year Hesketh-Fleetwood and Burton oversaw the marking out of Fleetwood's first street, and the first railway lines were laid.
By 1838 it had become clear that construction costs for the town were spiralling out of control. To make matters worse, the railway's engineer informed Hesketh-Fleetwood that the cost of the railway was expected to exceed £300,000. The company had also sold far fewer shares than had been hoped. Frederick Kemp was collecting rents and rates from tenants, and Hesketh-Fleetwood repeatedly asked him for money to pay some of the mounting bills. Kemp, a more forceful character than his employer, kept claiming that there was no money. Hesketh-Fleetwood turned to his brother Charles and asked him to get £4,000 out of Kemp. Charles was more assertive, but Kemp said that the money had been spent on workers' wages and produced yet more invoices that needed to be paid. During Hesketh-Fleetwood's many absences from the Fylde, Kemp managed to involve himself in a number of enterprises in the town, to his own financial advantage. The railway was taking longer than expected and, with mounting debts, Hesketh-Fleetwood grew increasingly depressed and began to withdraw from society.
Construction of the railway was finally completed in 1840, and in July the Preston and Wyre Railway opened. The following year St Peter's Church
was finished, and Hesketh-Fleetwood appointed as vicar the Rev. St. Vincent Beechey
of Hilgay
in Norfolk
. Also in 1841, the North Euston was the fourth hotel to open in the town. Steamer services opened to the Isle of Man
, Whitehaven
, Ardrossan
and Belfast
. Fleetwood initially flourished, but Hesketh-Fleetwood had run out of money and was compelled to take out mortgages
. He lost the £75,000 he had invested in the Preston and Wyre Railway Company owing to a lack of accounts. Kemp claimed that Hesketh-Fleetwood owed him money, but Kemp refused to explain his book-keeping. In the face of enormous debts Hesketh-Fleetwood sold his estates at Blackpool
, Southport, Meols Hall
, and Tulketh Hall
. Charles bought the Churchtown estate, where he and his wife had been living, from his brother. In 1844 Hesketh-Fleetwood auctioned off his personal possessions from Rossall Hall and left Lancashire. The Rev. St. Vincent Beechey had set up the Northern Church of England School for boys. Close to bankruptcy
, Hesketh-Fleetwood leased the buildings at Rossall Hall to the school for six years, with the option to buy it after nine for £7,000. Thereafter, the school was called Rossall School
.
Fleetwood continued to grow without its principal investor, albeit slowly. As a port, it soon faced competition from Lytham and Preston. In 1847 Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
travelled through Fleetwood on their way to London from Scotland, but that year saw the decline of the town's importance on the route to Scotland. More powerful locomotives were now able to travel over hilly terrain, and the railway was extended over Shap Fell all the way to Scotland; Fleetwood was no longer needed as a sea link.
, London on 12 April 1866, following a lengthy illness. He is buried at Kensal Green Cemetery
. His son Rev. Peter Louis Hesketh-Fleetwood (1838–1880) succeeded to the baronetcy, which became extinct on his death. What was left of Hesketh-Fleetwood's land in Lancashire was bought by the Fleetwood Estate Company in 1875.
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Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
, (9 May 1801 – 12 April 1866) was an English landowner
Landed gentry
Landed gentry is a traditional British social class, consisting of land owners who could live entirely off rental income. Often they worked only in an administrative capacity looking after the management of their own lands....
, developer and Member of Parliament, who founded the town of Fleetwood
Fleetwood
Fleetwood is a town within the Wyre district of Lancashire, England, lying at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 26,840 people at the 2001 Census. It forms part of the Greater Blackpool conurbation. The town was the first planned community of the Victorian era...
, in Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, England. Born Peter Hesketh, he changed his name by Royal assent to Hesketh-Fleetwood, incorporating the name of his ancestors, and was later created Baronet Fleetwood. Predeceased by an older brother, he inherited estates in west Lancashire in 1824. Inspired by the transport developments of the early 19th century, he decided to bring the railway to the Lancashire coast and develop a holiday resort and port. He hired architect Decimus Burton
Decimus Burton
Decimus Burton was a prolific English architect and garden designer, He is particularly associated with projects in the classical style in London parks, including buildings at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and London Zoo, and with the layout and architecture of the seaside towns of Fleetwood and...
to design his new town, which he named Fleetwood; construction began in 1836. Hesketh-Fleetwood was instrumental in the formation of the Preston and Wyre Railway Company and with his financial support, a railway line was built between Preston and Fleetwood
Preston and Wyre Joint Railway
right|256px|thumb|Carleton level crossing between Poulton-le-Fylde and Laytonright|256px|thumb|Thornton for Cleveleys station, 2005The Preston and Wyre Joint Railway – in full, the Preston & Wyre Railway and Dock Company – was the result of a merger in 1839 between:* Preston & Wyre...
which opened in 1840.
Hesketh-Fleetwood married twice and had several children, most of whom died in infancy. His new town flourished, but the expense of building it left him close to bankruptcy and forced him to sell most of his estates including Rossall Hall, which had been his family home. He left Lancashire and died in London, succeeded by his son Louis.
Early life and family
Peter Hesketh was born in 1801 at Wennington HallWennington Hall
Wennington Hall is a former country house in Wennington, a village in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. The house is a Grade II listed building and is now occupied by Wennington Hall School.-History:...
, in Wennington
Wennington, Lancashire
Wennington is a civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. The parish of Wennington had a population of 102 recorded in the 2001 census,....
, near Lancaster
Lancaster, Lancashire
Lancaster is the county town of Lancashire, England. It is situated on the River Lune and has a population of 45,952. Lancaster is a constituent settlement of the wider City of Lancaster, local government district which has a population of 133,914 and encompasses several outlying towns, including...
, the second son of Robert and Maria (née Rawlinson) Hesketh. He had an older brother, Edward, a younger brother, Charles, and a younger sister, Anna. He was descended (through his paternal grandmother) from the Fleetwood family who had owned the large Rossall
Rossall
Rossall is a settlement in Lancashire, England and a suburb of the market town of Fleetwood. It is situated on a coastal plain called The Fylde.-Early history:...
estate in West Lancashire for over 200 years. Robert inherited the estate in 1819 on the death of his elder brother, Bold, and the family relocated to the manor house, Rossall Hall, on the Fylde
The Fylde
The Fylde ; Scandinavian: "field") is a coastal plain in western Lancashire, England. It is roughly a 13-mile square-shaped peninsula, bounded by Morecambe Bay to the north, the Ribble estuary to the south, the Irish Sea to the west, and the Bowland hills to the east...
coast. On Robert's death in 1824, the estate passed to Peter, his elder brother Edward having predeceased him in 1820. By that time the family's land extended from Heysham
Heysham
Heysham is a large coastal village near Lancaster in the county of Lancashire, England. Overlooking Morecambe Bay, it is a ferry port with services to the Isle of Man and Ireland. Heysham is the site of two nuclear power stations which are landmarks visible from hills in the surrounding area...
in the north, to North Meols
North Meols
North Meols is a civil parish in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England. The parish covers the village of Banks and the hamlet of Hundred End...
, near Southport
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. During the 2001 census Southport was recorded as having a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England...
, in the south, and encompassed most of the Fylde.
Hesketh was educated, along with his younger brother Charles, at Trinity College, Oxford
Trinity College, Oxford
The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...
. Although Charles was a studious young man, who planned to enter the church on graduation, Peter had an active social life in both Oxford and London. He holidayed in southern resorts including St Leonards-on-Sea
St Leonards-on-Sea
St Leonards-on-Sea is part of Hastings, East Sussex, England, lying immediately to the west of the centre. The original part of the settlement was laid out in the early 19th century as a new town: a place of elegant houses designed for the well-off; it also included a central public garden, a...
, a new development in Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
, where he admired the work of architect James Burton
James Burton (1761–1837)
James Burton was a builder and developer, responsible for large areas of Bloomsbury and the houses around Regent's Park in London. He later founded the new town of St Leonards-on-Sea, which is now part of the built-up area of Hastings...
. He became close friends with Burton's son Decimus
Decimus Burton
Decimus Burton was a prolific English architect and garden designer, He is particularly associated with projects in the classical style in London parks, including buildings at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and London Zoo, and with the layout and architecture of the seaside towns of Fleetwood and...
, who was also an architect. The two men were involved in the formation of London's Athenaeum Club
Athenaeum Club, London
The Athenaeum Club, usually just referred to as the Athenaeum, is a notable London club with its Clubhouse located at 107 Pall Mall, London, England, at the corner of Waterloo Place....
and Burton designed the club's building in Pall Mall
Pall Mall, London
Pall Mall is a street in the City of Westminster, London, and parallel to The Mall, from St. James's Street across Waterloo Place to the Haymarket; while Pall Mall East continues into Trafalgar Square. The street is a major thoroughfare in the St James's area of London, and a section of the...
. Hesketh received his Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in 1823 and his Master of Arts degree in 1826. That same year, he married Eliza Debonnaire Metcalfe, the daughter of Sir Theophilus Metcalfe, 2nd Baronet, commonly known by her middle name. Debonnaire's father gave the couple a house in Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
, but they also spent time at the Rossall estate. The couple were very close to Charles and his new wife Anna, and their sister Anna, and her husband Thomas Knowlys. Charles was ordained in 1828 and as patron of St Chad's Church
St Chad's Church, Poulton-le-Fylde
St Chad's Church is an Anglican church in Poulton-le-Fylde, a town on the Fylde coastal plain in Lancashire, England. It is an active parish church in the Diocese of Blackburn and the archdeaconry of Lancaster. It has been designated a Grade II* listed building by English Heritage...
in Poulton-le-Fylde
Poulton-le-Fylde
Poulton-le-Fylde is a market town in Lancashire, England, situated on the coastal plain called the Fylde. As of the 2001 United Kingdom census, it had a population of 18,264. There is evidence of human habitation in the area from 12,000 years ago and several archaeological finds from Roman...
, Peter presented his brother with that curacy.
Hesketh enjoyed looking after the Rossall estate (which had no steward or agent), but struggled to keep on top of finances; he was an indulgent landlord. He became an enthusiastic member of the Lancashire Agricultural Society and was concerned about the fate of local farm workers who were losing their jobs because of increased mechanisation. Hesketh was gradually becoming more interested in the lives and conditions of the working classes.
The Heskeths' first child, Anna Maria (known as Maria to distinguish her from three close relatives named Anna), was born in 1827. Three more children—named Metcalfe Bold, Debonnaire and Frances—all died in infancy. In 1831 Hesketh changed his name by royal license to Hesketh-Fleetwood, incorporating the better-known family name of his ancestors into his own. Debonnaire contracted tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
and died in early 1833. Shortly before Debonnaire's death Hesketh-Fleetwood contracted scarlet fever
Scarlet fever
Scarlet fever is a disease caused by exotoxin released by Streptococcus pyogenes. Once a major cause of death, it is now effectively treated with antibiotics...
. This was followed by erysipelas
Erysipelas
Erysipelas is an acute streptococcus bacterial infection of the deep epidermis with lymphatic spread.-Risk factors:...
, a bacterial infection so severe that it necessitated the removal of one of his eyes. At the end of the year, the Rossall estate was severely flooded and suffered damage costing about £3,000 to repair. Hesketh-Fleetwood subsequently spent very little time at Rossall.
In 1837 in Belgium, Hesketh-Fleetwood married Virginie Marie Garcia, the daughter of a Spanish nobleman. Maria, his daughter with Debonnaire, contracted tuberculosis and died in 1838 at Regent's Park
Regent's Park
Regent's Park is one of the Royal Parks of London. It is in the north-western part of central London, partly in the City of Westminster and partly in the London Borough of Camden...
, aged 11. She was interred in a glass coffin in the family vault at St Chad's, Poulton
St Chad's Church, Poulton-le-Fylde
St Chad's Church is an Anglican church in Poulton-le-Fylde, a town on the Fylde coastal plain in Lancashire, England. It is an active parish church in the Diocese of Blackburn and the archdeaconry of Lancaster. It has been designated a Grade II* listed building by English Heritage...
. Around the same time as Maria's death, Virginie gave birth to a son, Peter Louis. In 1841, on the death of his aunt, Anna Maria Hesketh, Hesketh-Fleetwood succeeded to Tulketh Hall
Tulketh Hall
Tulketh Hall was a house in Ashton-on-Ribble, which is now a suburb of Preston, Lancashire, England. In the 12th century, Tulketh was the location of Tulketh Priory where a group of monks from Savigny Abbey, Normandy, lived until they moved to Furness Abbey in 1127...
in Preston.
Politics
Hesketh was appointed High Sheriff of LancashireHigh Sheriff of Lancashire
The High Sheriff of Lancashire is an ancient officer, now largely ceremonial, granted to Lancashire, a county in North West England. High Shrievalties are the oldest secular titles under the Crown, in England and Wales...
in 1830. In 1831 he was invited to stand as a Tory Party candidate for the constituency of Preston
Preston (UK Parliament constituency)
Preston is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
. He had similar views to Tory statesman Robert Peel
Robert Peel
Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 December 1834 to 8 April 1835, and again from 30 August 1841 to 29 June 1846...
and readily agreed to stand. Hesketh-Fleetwood opposed monopolies
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
, slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
and capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
and was in favour of reforming 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...
. At the 1832 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1832
-Seats summary:-Parties and leaders at the general election:The Earl Grey had been Prime Minister since 22 November 1830. His was the first predominantly Whig administration since the Ministry of all the Talents in 1806-1807....
, he was elected—along with his friend, Henry Stanley—Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Preston, in the first parliament following the Reform Act
Reform Act 1832
The Representation of the People Act 1832 was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of England and Wales...
. He made his maiden speech to parliament in 1834.
Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837, and in June the following year Hesketh-Fleetwood was knighted in the Coronation
Coronation of the British monarch
The coronation of the British monarch is a ceremony in which the monarch of the United Kingdom is formally crowned and invested with regalia...
honours list and created Baronet Fleetwood
Fleetwood Baronets
There have been two Baronetcies created for members of the Fleetwood family, an old Lancashire family, one in the Baronetage of England and one in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom...
. He was remained MP for Preston until the 1847 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1847
-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 *...
, although towards the end of his parliamentary career he was recorded as a Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
MP. In 1840 he translated Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
's pamphlet, The Last Day of a Condemned Man, with a foreword entitled "Observations on capital punishment" that made clear Hesketh-Fleetwood's abolitionist stance on the issue.
Development of Fleetwood
As a student holidaying in coastal towns, Hesketh had become aware of the lack of resorts in Lancashire. He was concerned that the working classes of Lancashire could not afford to travel south for their holidays as wealthy people like him could. The number of railways in Great BritainHistory of rail transport in Great Britain
The railway system of Great Britain, the principal territory of the United Kingdom, is the oldest in the world. The system was originally built as a patchwork of local rail links operated by small private railway companies. These isolated links developed during the railway boom of the 1840s into a...
steadily increased in the first half of the 18th century, and Hesketh was impressed by the arrival in 1828 of the steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
in Lancashire. As High Sheriff of Lancashire, he attended the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway
Opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway
The opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway took place on 15 September 1830. Work on the L&M had begun in the 1820s, to connect the major industrial city of Manchester with the nearest deep water port at the Port of Liverpool, away...
on 15 December 1830. The event filled him with great excitement at the idea of bringing the railway to the coast and enabling Lancashire mill workers to take day-trips to the seaside.
As he discussed the idea with his brother Charles, Hesketh soon realised that day-trippers would need certain facilities that were not yet available, and decided that a new town would need to be built. He initially planned to site his town and railway terminus
Terminal Station
Terminal Station is a 1953 film by Italian director Vittorio De Sica. It tells the story of the love affair between an Italian man and an American woman. The film was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival.-Production:...
near the village of Thornton
Thornton, Lancashire
Thornton is a village on the Fylde, in Lancashire, England, about four miles north of Blackpool and two miles south of Fleetwood. It is in the Borough of Wyre...
, but it was not close enough to the coast for his liking. He eventually decided on Rossall Point, a small peninsula north of Rossall Hall, at the mouth of the River Wyre
River Wyre
The River Wyre is a river in Lancashire, United Kingdom, which flows into the Irish Sea at Fleetwood. It is approximately 28 miles in length...
, which was then an uninhabited rabbit warren. Although bleak and waterlogged, the area had views of Morecambe Bay
Morecambe Bay
Morecambe Bay is a large bay in northwest England, nearly due east of the Isle of Man and just to the south of the Lake District National Park. It is the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of 310 km².-Natural features:The rivers Leven,...
and the Lake District
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
.
Hesketh was influenced in the early planning stages by his friends, including mill owners Samuel Fielden and Benjamin Whitworth. They pointed out that mill workers would not wish to make day trips to the seaside all year round, and wondered how the people of the new town would be occupied during the winter months. They encouraged Hesketh to build a new port; because charges at Liverpool
Port of Liverpool
The Port of Liverpool is the name for the enclosed 7.5 mile dock system that runs from Brunswick Dock in Liverpool to Seaforth Dock, Seaforth, on the east side of the River Mersey and the Birkenhead Docks between Birkenhead and Wallasey on the west side of the river...
were on the rise, and there were no reasonable alternatives for Manchester mill owners, both Whitworth and Fielden agreed that they would make good use of a port on the Fylde coast. Hesketh soon found that he was not the only one thinking of extending the railway, or of building a new port. He had competition from the residents of Lytham, a village about 13 miles (20.9 km) south of Rossall, at the mouth of the River Ribble
River Ribble
The River Ribble is a river that runs through North Yorkshire and Lancashire, in northern England. The river's drainage basin also includes parts of Greater Manchester around Wigan.-Geography:...
. They were already planning the formation of the Preston Port Company; Hesketh acted quickly and applied to the official railway committee to have a port built on the River Wyre. The committee agreed to hear all applications.
Charles met Frederick Kemp, a land agent newly arrived in Poulton from his native Essex, and introduced him to his brother, who was on the lookout for a steward or agent. Kemp, well-dressed and charming, made a good impression on Hesketh, who employed him immediately. At the meeting of the railway committee Hesketh put forward a persuasive argument. Despite opposition from the Lytham contingent the committee decided that Rossall Point was the best place for the railway terminus to be built, and the Railway and Port Company was formed. In the early 19th century it was thought that steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
s would be unable to negotiate hilly terrain, and that Lake District hills like Shap Fell would prevent the railway from reaching Scotland. The Fylde terminus would have even more importance than Hesketh had hoped, providing a sea link for passengers from London to travel on to Scotland. Initially Hesketh had considered naming his new town New Liverpool or Wyreton, but after changing his name to Hesketh-Fleetwood in 1831 he decided to call it Fleetwood
Fleetwood
Fleetwood is a town within the Wyre district of Lancashire, England, lying at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 26,840 people at the 2001 Census. It forms part of the Greater Blackpool conurbation. The town was the first planned community of the Victorian era...
. With a new career in parliament to prepare for, he readily handed over financial management of the project to his manager, Frederick Kemp.
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. During the 2001 census Southport was recorded as having a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England...
, a town he owned much of, was becoming a popular sea bathing
Sea bathing
Sea bathing is swimming in the sea or in sea water and a sea bath is a protective enclosure for sea bathing. Unlike bathing in a swimming pool, which is generally done for pleasure or exercise purposes, sea bathing was once thought to have curative or therapeutic value. It arose from the medieval...
resort, and Hesketh-Fleetwood organised the construction of a promenade. He was becoming concerned over delays on the part of the Railway and Port Company and decided to get on with building Fleetwood. He hired his old friend Decimus Burton
Decimus Burton
Decimus Burton was a prolific English architect and garden designer, He is particularly associated with projects in the classical style in London parks, including buildings at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and London Zoo, and with the layout and architecture of the seaside towns of Fleetwood and...
, who had become a successful architect, and together they discussed what buildings would be required. Hesketh-Fleetwood wanted a church, docks, housing, a gas office, a school and a hotel. Burton agreed that a hotel would be important for passengers to spend the night before travelling on to Scotland. Because those passengers would be arriving from Euston railway station
Euston railway station
Euston railway station, also known as London Euston, is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden. It is the sixth busiest rail terminal in London . It is one of 18 railway stations managed by Network Rail, and is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line...
in London, Hesketh-Fleetwood decided to call the hotel the North Euston Hotel. Burton's plans were ready by 1835.
In 1835, still frustrated by the lack of activity on the part of the Railway and Port Company, Hesketh-Fleetwood organised the formation of the Preston and Wyre Railway Company to raise the funds required to bring the railway to Fleetwood. The estimated cost was £122,000. The company obtained Royal assent to start construction, with an underwritten
Underwriting
Underwriting refers to the process that a large financial service provider uses to assess the eligibility of a customer to receive their products . The name derives from the Lloyd's of London insurance market...
guarantee from Hesketh-Fleetwood. The following year Hesketh-Fleetwood and Burton oversaw the marking out of Fleetwood's first street, and the first railway lines were laid.
By 1838 it had become clear that construction costs for the town were spiralling out of control. To make matters worse, the railway's engineer informed Hesketh-Fleetwood that the cost of the railway was expected to exceed £300,000. The company had also sold far fewer shares than had been hoped. Frederick Kemp was collecting rents and rates from tenants, and Hesketh-Fleetwood repeatedly asked him for money to pay some of the mounting bills. Kemp, a more forceful character than his employer, kept claiming that there was no money. Hesketh-Fleetwood turned to his brother Charles and asked him to get £4,000 out of Kemp. Charles was more assertive, but Kemp said that the money had been spent on workers' wages and produced yet more invoices that needed to be paid. During Hesketh-Fleetwood's many absences from the Fylde, Kemp managed to involve himself in a number of enterprises in the town, to his own financial advantage. The railway was taking longer than expected and, with mounting debts, Hesketh-Fleetwood grew increasingly depressed and began to withdraw from society.
Construction of the railway was finally completed in 1840, and in July the Preston and Wyre Railway opened. The following year St Peter's Church
St Peter's Church, Fleetwood
-External links:...
was finished, and Hesketh-Fleetwood appointed as vicar the Rev. St. Vincent Beechey
St. Vincent Beechey
The Revd. Canon St. Vincent Beechey was a 19th century vicar of Fleetwood and Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire and later of Worsley, Lancashire. He is most famous for founding Rossall School in Fleetwood, Lancashire in 1844 and was also President of the Manchester Photographic Society...
of Hilgay
Hilgay
Hilgay is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk, outside of Downham Market.It covers an area of and had a population of 1,174 in 500 households as of the 2001 census....
in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
. Also in 1841, the North Euston was the fourth hotel to open in the town. Steamer services opened to the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
, Whitehaven
Whitehaven
Whitehaven is a small town and port on the coast of Cumbria, England, which lies equidistant between the county's two largest settlements, Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness, and is served by the Cumbrian Coast Line and the A595 road...
, Ardrossan
Ardrossan
Ardrossan is a town on the North Ayrshire coast in south-western Scotland. The name "Ardrossan" describes its physical position — 'ard' from the Gaelic àird meaning headland, 'ros' a promontory and the diminutive suffix '-an' - headland of the little promontory...
and Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
. Fleetwood initially flourished, but Hesketh-Fleetwood had run out of money and was compelled to take out mortgages
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...
. He lost the £75,000 he had invested in the Preston and Wyre Railway Company owing to a lack of accounts. Kemp claimed that Hesketh-Fleetwood owed him money, but Kemp refused to explain his book-keeping. In the face of enormous debts Hesketh-Fleetwood sold his estates at Blackpool
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
, Southport, Meols Hall
Meols Hall
Meols Hall is a historical manor house in Churchtown, Merseyside, dating from the 12th century but largely rebuilt in by Roger Fleetwood-Hesketh in the 1960s.- History :...
, and Tulketh Hall
Tulketh Hall
Tulketh Hall was a house in Ashton-on-Ribble, which is now a suburb of Preston, Lancashire, England. In the 12th century, Tulketh was the location of Tulketh Priory where a group of monks from Savigny Abbey, Normandy, lived until they moved to Furness Abbey in 1127...
. Charles bought the Churchtown estate, where he and his wife had been living, from his brother. In 1844 Hesketh-Fleetwood auctioned off his personal possessions from Rossall Hall and left Lancashire. The Rev. St. Vincent Beechey had set up the Northern Church of England School for boys. Close to bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
, Hesketh-Fleetwood leased the buildings at Rossall Hall to the school for six years, with the option to buy it after nine for £7,000. Thereafter, the school was called Rossall School
Rossall School
Rossall School is a British, co-educational, independent school, between Cleveleys and Fleetwood, Lancashire. Rossall was founded in 1844 by St. Vincent Beechey as a sister school to Marlborough College which had been founded the previous year...
.
Fleetwood continued to grow without its principal investor, albeit slowly. As a port, it soon faced competition from Lytham and Preston. In 1847 Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
Prince Albert
Prince Albert was the husband and consort of Queen Victoria.Prince Albert may also refer to:-Royalty:*Prince Albert Edward or Edward VII of the United Kingdom , son of Albert and Victoria...
travelled through Fleetwood on their way to London from Scotland, but that year saw the decline of the town's importance on the route to Scotland. More powerful locomotives were now able to travel over hilly terrain, and the railway was extended over Shap Fell all the way to Scotland; Fleetwood was no longer needed as a sea link.
Later life and death
Hesketh-Fleetwood moved to London with Virginie and their son Louis. He rarely visited Lancashire again, and in 1847 he retired from politics. The family spent some time living in Virginie's home country, Spain. In 1861 Hesketh-Fleetwood expressed an intention to return to politics, but was prevented from doing so by his failing health. He died at his home in PiccadillyPiccadilly
Piccadilly is a major street in central London, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is completely within the city of Westminster. The street is part of the A4 road, London's second most important western artery. St...
, London on 12 April 1866, following a lengthy illness. He is buried at Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in Kensal Green, in the west of London, England. It was immortalised in the lines of G. K. Chesterton's poem The Rolling English Road from his book The Flying Inn: "For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen; Before we go to Paradise by way of...
. His son Rev. Peter Louis Hesketh-Fleetwood (1838–1880) succeeded to the baronetcy, which became extinct on his death. What was left of Hesketh-Fleetwood's land in Lancashire was bought by the Fleetwood Estate Company in 1875.
Sources
| year = 2004 | url = http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/articleHL/9688 | doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/9688 | ref=Matthew}}