John Bagshaw (1784 – 20 December 1861) was a British
Whig property developer and politician.
Life
![Orwell Road, Dovercourt - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Orwell_Road%2C_Dovercourt_-_geograph.org.uk_-_522603.jpg)
He was the son of John Bagshaw of Rugby, Warwickshire.
He moved to
Harwich in Essex and acquired land at nearby
Dovercourt
Dovercourt is a small seaside town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Harwich, in the Tendring district, in the county of Essex, England. It is older than its smaller but better-known neighbour, the port of Harwich, and appears in ...
, where he developed plans with the help of W.H. Lindsey, a London architect, to build a new resort overlooking the sea. He started the project in 1845 by building a mansion, Cliff House, for himself and his family and actively promoted a railway link to Harwich. When a chalybeate spring was discovered in the grounds of Cliff House, Bagshaw extended the property to incorporate a spa, library, pump room, and conservatory. He next developed Orwell Terrace where his son
Robert John Bagshaw, also an MP for Harwich, moved into Banksea House in 1857. However the developments, which included Marine Parade and the Cliff Estate, caused him financial difficulties and he was declared bankrupt in 1859.
Parliamentary career
He was elected at the
1835 general election 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 o ...
(MP) for
Sudbury, having unsuccessfully contested the seat at a by-election in July 1834.
At the
1837 general election, he did not stand again in Sudbury, but contested
Kidderminster
Kidderminster is a large market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2011 census, it ha ...
unsuccessfully.
[Craig, op. cit., page 165] At the
1841 general election he stood instead in
Harwich, but was not elected.
[Craig, op. cit., pages 144–145] He won the seat in
1847
Events
January–March
* January 4 – Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the U.S. government.
* January 13 – The Treaty of Cahuenga ends fighting in the Mexican–American War in California.
* January 16 – John C. Frémont ...
, but was defeated in
1852
Events
January–March
* January 14 – President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte proclaims a new constitution for the French Second Republic.
* January 15 – Nine men representing various Jewish charitable organizations come tog ...
. However, the election of his
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
successor was voided on petition, and Bagshaw won the resulting by-election on 21 June 1853. After being re-elected in
1857,
he
resigned his seat 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 ...
on 9 March 1859, through appointment as
Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds.
Private life
He died in Norwood in 1861 after the contents of his house and spa had been sold and his estate broken up. Cliff House was demolished in 1909 and the Spa in 1920. He had married twice and had a son and 3 daughters. His son John Robert continued the development of Dovercourt and also became MP for Harwich.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bagshaw, John
1784 births
1861 deaths
Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
UK MPs 1835–1837
UK MPs 1837–1841
UK MPs 1852–1857
UK MPs 1857–1859