David Chadwick (23 December 1821 – 19 September 1895) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

accountant and

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

politician. He sat in the

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from 1868 to 1880.

Early life

David Chadwick was the son of John Chadwick, who was originally from

Macclesfield Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Bollin in the east of the county, on the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east ...

but later moved to

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. Chadwick was educated in Manchester, and began training as an accountant in 1843. By 1870 he was a senior partner in Chadwicks, Adamson, Collier, and Co., based in London and Manchester. He was a President of the Manchester Statistical Society, the first president of the Manchester Institute of Accountants, and an associate of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...

. At the 1865 general election, Chadwick unsuccessfully contested the borough of Macclesfield, but he won the seat at the 1868 general election. Macclesfield then had two

Members 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 ...

(MPs), and Chadwick and his fellow Liberal MP

William Coare Brocklehurst William Coare Brocklehurst (9 February 1818 – 3 June 1900) was an English Liberal Party politician and head of a family of silk producers in Macclesfield in the 19th century. He sat in the House of Commons from 1868 to 1880 and from 1885 to 18 ...

were re-elected in

1874 Events January–March * January 1 – New York City annexes The Bronx. * January 2 – Ignacio María González becomes head of state of the Dominican Republic for the first time. * January 3 – Third Carlist War &ndas ...

and in

1880 Events January–March * January 22 – Toowong State School is founded in Queensland, Australia. * January – The international White slave trade affair scandal in Brussels is exposed and attracts international infamy. * February � ...

. However, an

election petition An election petition refers to the procedure for challenging the result of a Parliamentary election. Outcomes When a petition is lodged against an election return, there are 4 possible outcomes: # The election is declared void. The result is q ...

was lodged against the result of the 1880 general election in Macclesfield, and the result was declared void on 22 June 1880. The

Election Court In United Kingdom election law, election court is a special court convened to hear a petition against the result of a local government or parliamentary election. The court is created to hear the individual case, and ceases to exist when it ha ...

found that an organised system of bribery and treating by the Liberal election agent had prevailed at the election; Chadwick and Brocklehurst were both unseatedEdward Loughlin O'Malley and Henry Hardcastle, "Reports of the Decisions of the Judges for the Trials of Election Petitions in England and Ireland", vol. III (Stevens and Haynes, 1881), p. 100. and a Royal Commission was appointed to investigate. The inquiry opened on 1 October 1880, which found that there had been extensive

bribery Bribery is the Offer and acceptance, offering, Gift, giving, Offer and acceptance, receiving, or Solicitation, soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With reg ...

in the borough. The writ was suspended, and the borough lost its right to representation in Parliament. William Mair, Liberal agent at the election, told the court that he had promised Chadwick that no money would be spent illegally. He was convicted in July 1881 of bribery and of making a false return of election expenses. Chadwick did not stand again. Chadwick was also a prolific writer on a range of topics. His works included ''Suggestions for an Equitable Redistribution of Parliamentary Representation'', ''The Financial Aspect of the Sanitary Question'', ''Poor Rates and Principle of Rating'', ''Social and Educational Statistics of Manchester'', and ''The Rate of Wages in 200 Trades for 20 Years''. He was described in 1870 as being "in favour of the ballot, national education, and reduction in national expenditure". He erected the Macclesfield Free Library, and presented it to the town's corporation. He was also a governor of the estate of the

Royal Holloway College Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

in Surrey.

Family

Chadwick married twice, firstly in 1844 to Louisa Bow, daughter of William Bow of Broughton. Louisa died in 1873, and in 1878 he married Ursula Sopwith, daughter of the civil engineer

Thomas Sopwith Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, CBE, Hon FRAeS (18 January 1888 – 27 January 1989) was an English aviation pioneer, businessman and yachtsman. Early life Sopwith was born in Kensington, London, on 18 January 1888. He was the eig ...

. Chadwick died on 19 September 1895, aged 73, at his home ''The Poplars'' in

Herne Hill Herne Hill is a district in South London, approximately four miles from Charing Cross and bordered by Brixton, Camberwell, Dulwich, and Tulse Hill. It sits to the north and east of Brockwell Park and straddles the boundary between the boroughs ...

, London and was buried at

West Norwood Cemetery West Norwood Cemetery is a rural cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery. One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the " Magnificent Seven" cemeteries of L ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chadwick, David 1821 births 1895 deaths Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1868–1874 UK MPs 1874–1880 UK MPs 1880–1885 People from Macclesfield English accountants Burials at West Norwood Cemetery 19th-century English businesspeople