Ashton Wentworth Dilke (11 August 1850 – 12 March 1883) was an editor, British traveller and radical

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

from 1880 to 1883.

Life

Dilke was the younger son of

Sir Charles Dilke, 1st Baronet Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, 1st Baronet (18 February 1810 – 10 May 1869), was an English art patron, horticulturalist and Whig politician. He is best remembered as one of the chief promoters of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Background an ...

, and was educated privately before being admitted to

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by ...

in 1868. He was made a scholar in 1870 and was a prominent member of the

Cambridge Union Society The Cambridge Union Society, also known as the Cambridge Union, is a debating and free speech society in Cambridge, England, and the largest society in the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1815, it is the oldest continuously running debati ...

, although he left before finishing his degree, instead travelling to Russia in 1872. For several months he lived in a Russian village and studied the language, as well as examining the status of the Russian peasantry. He returned in 1873 showing signs of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

, the disease which eventually killed him. He began writing a book about Russia, two chapters of which appeared in the ''

Fortnightly Review ''The Fortnightly Review'' was one of the most prominent and influential magazines in nineteenth-century England. It was founded in 1865 by Anthony Trollope, Frederic Harrison, Edward Spencer Beesly, and six others with an investment of £9,000 ...

'' in 1874, but it was never published. In 1875, he bought the ''Weekly Dispatch'' for £14,000, acting as editor until 1876 and then again between 1878 and 1880. In 1878 he published a translation of

Ivan Turgenev Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (; rus, links=no, Ива́н Серге́евич Турге́невIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; 9 November 1818 – 3 September 1883 (Old Style dat ...

's ''Virgin Soil''. On 10 April 1876 he married Margaret Smith, eldest daughter of

Thomas Eustace Smith Thomas Eustace Smith (1831–1903) was an English shipping magnate and Liberal Party politician. Biography He was elected at the 1868 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tynemouth and North Shields, having stood unsuccessfully ...

, Roy Jenkins, ''Dilke: A Victorian Tragedy'' (1996), p. 112. with whom he had two sons and a daughter. In 1880 he was elected as a

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 o ...

for Newcastle-upon-Tyne, but his ill-health led him to resign in February 1883, spending the last few months of his life in Algiers, where he died in March aged 32 years. His wife went on to be a leading suffragist and she was a witness called during Ashton's brother's divorce.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dilke, Ashton Wentworth 1850 births 1883 deaths 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1880–1885 Younger sons of baronets Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge Tuberculosis deaths in Algeria