Charles Gilpin (politician)

He was born at Bristol 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 and Edmund Sturge. He was educated at Sidcot School from 1824 to 1828. 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). ==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 ==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 Houndsditch 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. The publishing business was apparently taken over by William & Frederick G. Cash and later Alfred William Bennett. Range of publications The British Library 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, 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 Congresses. 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. ==Political elections and roles==

The Court of Common Council Gilpin was elected to The Court of Common Council of the City of London in 1848. 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. Gilpin did not stand for Parliament at the July 1852 General Election. MP for Northampton in Vanity Fair, 18 January 1873. It is captioned "Capital Punishment" At the general elections 1857, 1859, 1865 and February 1874, Gilpin was elected to represent the Northampton constituency Conspiracy to Murder Bill and atrocities in India 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 felony. 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 Board. This appointment did not please his fellow Quaker, John Bright MP, who remarked "Thou'd better have a rope put around your neck". ==Beyond publishing and Parliament==

Directorships He was a director of the South Eastern, the Metropolitan, and the Smyrna & Cassaba Railways. and a director of the National Provident Life Assurance Company. "His London residence, was the English home of Louis Kossuth and Garibaldi". 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 Square, 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 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. ==References==