Alexander Powell (9 June 1782 – 25 December 1847) was a British

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

politician, who sat as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Downton from 1826 to 1830. Powell was the son of Francis Powell and his wife Anna Maria Burrough, daughter of Sydenham Borough. He was educated at

Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth-oldest college of the un ...

, matriculating on 26 May 1800 aged 17, graduating

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in 1804. He served as

High Sheriff of Wiltshire This is a list of the Sheriffs and (after 1 April 1974) High Sheriffs of Wiltshire. Until the 14th century, the shrievalty was held ''ex officio'' by the castellans of Old Sarum Castle. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Gov ...

1818–19 and Mayor of Wilton 1829–30. The constituency of Downton was controlled by the Tory 2nd Earl of Radnor. In the 1826 general election, Radnor nominated

Thomas Grimston Estcourt Thomas Grimston Estcourt (1775–1853), of New Park, near Devizes, Wiltshire, later known as Thomas Grimston Bucknall Estcourt, was an English politician. He was the eldest son of Thomas Estcourt, Member of the Parliament of Great Britain (MP) ...

, a local squire recently elected MP for Oxford University in a by-election, and

Robert Southey Robert Southey ( or ; 12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic school, and Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Southey began as a ra ...

, the Tory poet laureate, as MPs for Downton. Neither took their seat: Estcourt continued to represent the university, while Southey, nominated without his knowledge and wishing to continue to live and write in the Lake District, declined the seat on the grounds that he did not meet the property qualification. Radnor therefore nominated his half-brother

Bartholomew Bouverie The Honourable Bartholemew Bouverie (29 October 1753 – 31 May 1835), was a British politician. Background and education Bouverie was the second son of William Bouverie, 1st Earl of Radnor, by his second wife Rebecca Alleyne, daughter of John A ...

and Alexander Powell, both Tories, who were returned in by-elections in December 1826. The 2nd Earl died in 1828, and was succeeded by his son the 3rd Earl of Radnor, a radical supporter of political reform. Powell offered to resign the seat, but the Earl, impressed by the offer, refused it. Powell stood down at the 1830 general election. His residence was Hurdcott House,

Baverstock Baverstock is a small village and former civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about west of Salisbury. The village has 10 private dwellings, a church and several farm buildings. The manor of Hurdcott, a hamlet of a few houses, lies to the southw ...

, Wiltshire (not to be confused with the

Hurdcott House Hurdcott House is a 19th-century country house in Winterbourne Earls, Wiltshire, England, in the Bourne valley about north-east of Salisbury. It became a Grade II listed building on 29 May 1987. The two-storey house with three bays dates to the ...

in Winterbourne Earls). He died on 25 December 1847, aged 65. His will was proved on 17 March 1848.

Family

On 7 July 1807, Powell married Joanna Law, daughter of

George Henry Law George Henry Law (12 September 1761 – 22 September 1845) was the Bishop of Chester (1812) and then, from 1824, Bishop of Bath and Wells. Born at the lodge of Peterhouse, Cambridge, of which his father Edmund Law (who later became Bishop of ...

, Bishop of Bath and Wells. They had the following children: * Alexander Pitts Elliott Powell (1809–1882), Deputy Lieutenant of Wiltshire * Edward Powell (1816), died in infancy * Charles Powell (1819), died in infancy * George Francis Sydenham Powell (1820–1888), Rector of

Sutton Veny Sutton Veny is a village and civil parish in the Wylye valley, to the southeast of the town of Warminster in Wiltshire, England; the village is about from Warminster town centre. 'Sutton' means 'south farmstead' in relation to Norton Bavant, on ...

* Anne Maria Powell, married Richard Strachey * Joanna Powell, married Rev. Thomas Garratt * Jane Powell, married Rev. Reginald Pole * Catherine Augusta Powell, married Rev. Charles Raikes Davy (son of General Sir

William Gabriel Davy General Sir William Gabriel Davy, (178025 January 1856) was a British Army officer who fought in the Peninsular War. Life William Gabriel Davy was born in 1780 in Kingsholm, Gloucestershire. He was the eldest son of Major William Davy, P ...

) * Henry Lionel Powell (d. 1837), died in childhood

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Alexander 1782 births 1847 deaths Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford High Sheriffs of Wiltshire Mayors of places in Wiltshire Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Wiltshire UK MPs 1826–1830 Tory MPs (pre-1834)