Ralph Etwall was an English Whig and 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...

 politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1831 to 1847.

Etwall was the son of Ralph Etwall who owned several hundred acres, and he was described as "the most ungainly person, and for a gentleman the most uncouth".

At the 1831 UK general election Etwall was elected 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 Andover

Andover (UK Parliament constituency)

Andover was the name of a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England from 1295 to 1307, and again from 1586, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918. It was a parliamentary borough in Hampshire,...

. He held the seat until 1847. Etwall was active in parliament in pursuing the scandalous treatment of children at the Andover workhouse.

Etwall was fond of field sports and also kept race-horses for about 15 years. However with the expense of his elections and the cost of his sports he ended up heavily in debt and left England to live many years in seclusion in France. He died at the age of 78.

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