Richard Sanderson (baptised 4 January 1784 – 28 October 1857)
was a
British merchant, banker, and
Conservative and
Tory politician.
Early life and family
Born near
Doncaster,
Yorkshire, Sanderson was the son of Thomas Anderson of Armthorpe and Sarah née Cromack, daughter of John Cromack. In 1833, he married Charlotte Matilda Manners-Sutton, daughter of
Charles Manners-Sutton, 1st Viscount Canterbury, and they had at least 10 children — six sons, and four daughters,
including
Thomas Sanderson, 1st Baron Sanderson.
Business career
Early in his adult life, Sanderson became a clerk in London bill-broking firm
Richardson, Overend, and Company, where the
quaker
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
Samuel Gurney was a partner—which some historians suggest means Sanderson may also have a quaker upbringing. By 1827, Sanderson was operating as a bill broker but at his own business, dominating the London market in the later years of that decade alongside Gurney's business, then renamed Overend, Gurney and Company—both at
Lombard Street in
London.
In 1837, Sanderson moved his business to
King William Street, London; in 1847, that business then had to suspend payment, before being able to trade again in early 1848.
Just two weeks after his death in 1857, the business—then known as Sanderson, Sandeman and Company—failed with debts of £5,299,006.
Member of parliament
Sanderson first became
Member of Parliament (MP) for
Colchester at a
by-election in 1829—held due to the resignation of
Sir George Smyth, 6th Baronet. Having cultivated anti-Catholic and Tory relationships, he was put forward by the Colchester corporation to replace Smyth, a fellow Tory. A "token challenge" was put forward to counter Sanderson's bid for the seat, but he won the seat, declaring a desire to promote "the education of the poor" and to "put an end to the traffic in human blood".
Having taken his seat on 28 April 1829, one of his first votes was to block the
Radical
Radical may refer to:
Politics and ideology Politics
*Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change
*Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...
(MP)
Daniel O'Connell from taking his seat in the
House of Commons at
Clare Clare may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land
Australia
* Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley
* Clare Valley, South Australia
Canada
* Clare (electoral district), an electoral district
* Cl ...
without taking the
Oath of Supremacy
The Oath of Supremacy required any person taking public or church office in England to swear allegiance to the monarch as Supreme Governor of the Church of England. Failure to do so was to be treated as treasonable. The Oath of Supremacy was ori ...
. At a dinner in July of the same year, he lamented that "nothing of great importance" had taken place in the House, but he was prepared to "stand forward in support of those principles which he had publicly avowed".
In 1830, he voted with the government against transferring the electorate of
East Retford into the soon-to-be-created constituency of
Birmingham; against enfranchising Birmingham,
Leeds and
Manchester; and against
Lord Blandford's parliamentary reform scheme. Despite this, he is not recorded as having spoken during this period, although he petitioned for the abolition of the death penalty for forgery, then voting in that manner in June 1830.
As the
1830 general election approached, Sanderson sought to retain the seat but was forced to pull out at a late stage when his agent was spotted in an act of bribery. At the
general election a year later, he again sought to represent the seat, gaining corporation backing, in a bid to prevent the return of reformers. Yet his canvassing was received poorly, with an angry mob forcing his carriage into a pond. Nevertheless, he attended the hustings, promising to accept "the necessity of parliamentary reform", an extension of the franchise to "large and populous places", but still rejected the need to disenfranchise other seats. Regardless, Sanderson polled third and was not elected.
However, Sanderson returned to the seat a year later, at the
1832 general election, securing the most votes, and held it for another 15 years until
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 ...
, when he was ranked third in the poll, losing the election. Within this period, he opposed the
Maynooth Grant and repealing the
Corn Laws, and married the
Commons Speaker's daughter.
Death
Sanderson died in 1857 at Hazlewood in
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
leaving, via his will, £3,000 to his wife, Charlotte, and dividing the rest of his property among his children.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanderson, Richard
UK MPs 1826–1830
UK MPs 1832–1835
UK MPs 1835–1837
UK MPs 1837–1841
UK MPs 1841–1847
Tory MPs (pre-1834)
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
1784 births
1857 deaths