Fretcheville Lawson Ballantine Dykes (12 December 1800 – 26 November 1866) was a British politician. The son of Joseph Dykes Ballantine, Fretchville was born with the surname Ballantine, but added "Dykes" later in life. He lived at

Dovenby Hall Dovenby Hall is a country house in of land at Dovenby, about north-west of Cockermouth, Cumbria, England. It is a Grade II listed building. History The oldest part of the estate is a 13th-century peel tower. The main house was built for Sir ...

Cockermouth Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England, so named because it is at the confluence of the River Cocker as it flows into the River Derwent. The mid-2010 census estimates state that Cocke ...

. He studied at Oriel College, Oxford, and graduated in 1822. At the 1832 UK general election, Dykes stood in

and was elected for the Whigs. He supported the provisions of the Reform Act 1832 and further reforms, such as voting by ballot, Parliaments being limited to a three-year term, the repeal of the

window tax Window tax was a property tax based on the number of windows in a house. It was a significant social, cultural, and architectural force in England, France, and Ireland during the 18th and 19th centuries. To avoid the tax, some houses from the p ...

and the

Corn Law The Corn Laws were tariffs and other trade restrictions on imported food and corn enforced in the United Kingdom between 1815 and 1846. The word ''corn'' in British English denotes all cereal grains, including wheat, oats and barley. They wer ...

, and the removal of bishops from the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

. Dykes was re-elected at the

1835 UK general election The 1835 United Kingdom general election was called when Parliament was dissolved on 29 December 1834. Polling took place between 6 January and 6 February 1835, and the results saw Robert Peel's Conservatives make large gains from their low of ...

, but stood down soon afterwards, by being appointed to the

Chiltern Hundreds The Chiltern Hundreds is an ancient administrative area in Buckinghamshire, England, composed of three " hundreds" and lying partially within the Chiltern Hills. "Taking the Chiltern Hundreds" refers to one of the legal fictions used to effect ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dykes, Fretcheville 1800 births 1866 deaths Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford People from Cockermouth UK MPs 1832–1835 UK MPs 1835–1837 Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies