Thomas Alcock was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 politician.

Thomas Alcock was born in Putney

Putney

Putney is a district in south-west London, England, located in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated south-west of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....

,the son of Joseph Alcock of Roehampton. He was educated at Harrow

Harrow School

Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...

 and served briefly in the 1st Dragoon Guards. In 1828-9 he travelled in Russia, Turkey, Persia and Greece, and later had an account of his travels privately printed.

He was 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,...

 (MP) for the rotten borough

Rotten borough

A "rotten", "decayed" or pocket borough was a parliamentary borough or constituency in the United Kingdom that had a very small electorate and could be used by a patron to gain undue and unrepresentative influence within Parliament....

 of Newton

Newton (UK Parliament constituency)

Newton was a parliamentary borough in the county of Lancashire, in England. It was represented by two Members of Parliament in the House of Commons of the Parliament of England from 1559 to 1706 then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

 between 1826 and 1830, and after the Great Reform Act, sat for Ludlow

Ludlow (UK Parliament constituency)

Ludlow is a county 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....

 from 1839 to 1840, and for East Surrey

East Surrey (UK Parliament constituency)

East Surrey is a county 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....

 1847–1865. He was appointed High Sheriff of Surrey

High Sheriff of Surrey

-List of High Sheriffs of Surrey:The list of known High Sheriffs of Surrey extends back to 1066 At various times the High Sheriff of Surrey was also High Sheriff of Sussex -1066-1228:...

 for 1837.

Alcock was politically progressive and in favour of extending the franchise. He spent more than £40,000 on building churches, parsonages and schools, and the endowment of churches, in Surrey and Lincolnshire. He was a strong advocate for the preservation of commons and open spaces for the use and recreation of the public, and published a pamphlet on the subject in 1845.

He was also responsible for extensively remodelling the mansion of Kingswood

Kingswood

Kingswood may mean places:in the United Kingdom:*Kingswood, Buckinghamshire*Kingswood, Dulwich*Kingswood, Gloucestershire, a small village in the district of Stroud**Kingswood Abbey...

 Warren in Surrey, to the designs of the architect T.R. Knowles.

External links