Sir John Eardley Eardley-Wilmot, 1st Baronet (21 February 1783 – 3 February 1847) was a politician in the United Kingdom who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for
North Warwickshire
North Warwickshire is a local government district with borough status in the ceremonial county of Warwickshire, West Midlands, England. Outlying settlements in the borough include the two towns of Atherstone (where the council is based) and Co ...
and then as
Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land
The governor of Tasmania is the representative in the Australian state of Tasmania of the Monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. The incumbent governor is Barbara Baker, who was appointed in June 2021. The official residence of the ...
(later called
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
).
Eardley-Wilmot was the son of
John Eardley Wilmot
Sir John Eardley Wilmot PC SL (16 August 17095 February 1792), was an English judge, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas from 1766 to 1771.
Family and early life
Wilmot was the second son of Robert Wilmot (1669–1738), of Osmaston Hall, near ...
(1748–1815),
barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
, and grandson of
Sir John Eardley Wilmot,
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas
The chief justice of the Common Pleas was the head of the Court of Common Pleas, also known as the Common Bench or Common Place, which was the second-highest common law court in the English legal system until 1875, when it, along with the other ...
. He was educated at
Harrow School
(The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God)
, established = (Royal Charter)
, closed =
, type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school
, religion = Church of E ...
,
called to the bar
The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
in 1806, appointed
High Sheriff of Warwickshire
This is a list of sheriffs and high sheriffs of the English county of Warwickshire.
The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most ...
in 1818 or 1819 and created a
baronet
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
in 1821
and in 1822 published ''An Abridgment of Blackstone's Commentaries''.
[ This was followed in 1827 by ''A Letter to the Magistrates of England on the Increase of Crime'', by Sir Eardley Eardley-Wilmot, Bart. F.R.S., F.L.S. and F.S.A. He was a member of 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. ...
, representing North Warwickshire from 1832 until March 1843.[ In 1840 he attended an international meeting on 12 June 1840 on anti-slavery. A large painting in the National Portrait Gallery records that event and Eardley-Wilmot is shown with Dr Stephen Lushington, a judge, behind the main speaker.][National Portrait Gallery, London]
accessed 14 July 2008
Eardley-Wilmot was appointed lieutenant-governor of Van Diemen's Land
Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sepa ...
, and arrived at Hobart
Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...
on 17 August.[ He probably owed his position to the interest he had taken in the subject of crime; his plea that prisoners under the age of 21 should be segregated and a special endeavour made to reform them suggests that he was in advance of his period.
Soon after his arrival he came into conflict with one of the judges by reprieving a ]prisoner
A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison.
...
sentenced to be hanged. His justification was that he would not inflict death for offences not on the records of the court, and that in this case only robbery had been proved. He visited various parts of the island and seemed likely to be a popular governor. Many prisoners were arriving, expenses were rising, and the governor was much hampered by instructions received from the colonial office. In 1844 Eardley-Wilmot suggested that the 1842 Act (setting a £1 per acre minimum land price) should not apply in Van Diemen's Land – to which the British government agreed in 1845. He endeavoured to raise the duties on sugar, tea and other foreign goods, but the opposition from the colonists was great and the new taxes were withdrawn. The colonial office was unable to understand that convict labour could not be made to pay its way, and Wilmot was made responsible for the faults of a system he had no power to amend. He endeavoured to save expenses by reducing salaries of officials, but the chief justice for one denied the power of the council to reduce his salary. Six members of the council objected to the form of the estimates and withdrew from the council which reduced the number present below a quorum, and much public feeling arose against the governor.
In April 1846 Wilmot was recalled. The official statements relating to his recall were of the vaguest character, such as that he had not shown ''"an active care of the moral interests involved in the system of convict discipline"''. Privately Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
, the new colonial secretary, informed Wilmot that he was not recalled for any errors in his official character, but because rumours reflecting on his moral character had reached the colonial office.[ There was no truth in these charges nor was there time for Wilmot to receive any reply to his indignant denials, and requests for the names of his accusers. He died on 3 February 1847, worn-out by worry and anxiety. Gladstone endeavoured to make some amends in a letter to one of Wilmot's sons.
Wilmot married (1) Elizabeth Emma, daughter of ]Caleb Hillier Parry
Caleb Hillier Parry (21 October 1755 – 9 March 1822) was an Anglo-Welsh physician credited with the first report of Parry–Romberg syndrome, published in 1815, and one of the earliest descriptions of the exophthalmic goiter, published in 1825 ...
in 1808 and (2) Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Robert Chester in 1819. There were sons and daughters of both marriages, including John's successor John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
and the clergyman Edward Revell Eardley-Wilmot. There is a monument in memory of Wilmot at Hobart, erected by public subscription.
Wilmot features as a main character in T.S.Flynn's historical novel "Part an Irishman: The Regiment".
Memorials
The locality of Wilmot Wilmot may refer to:
Places Australia
*Division of Wilmot, an abolished Australian Electoral Division in Tasmania
*Wilmot, Tasmania, a locality in the North-West Region
Canada
*Wilmot, Nova Scotia, an unincorporated rural community and former to ...
in Tasmania was named for him.
References
*Michael Roe,
Eardley-Wilmot, Sir John Eardley (1783–1847)
, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 1, Melbourne University Press, 1966, pp 345–346
*
*
Further reading
*
* Robson, L. L. (1983). ''A History of Tasmania. Volume I. Van Diemen's Land From the Earliest Times to 1855''. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. .
* T.S. Flynn (2016) Part an Irishman,
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eardley-Wilmot, John Eardley, 1st Baronet
1783 births
1847 deaths
High Sheriffs of Warwickshire
Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
Governors of Tasmania
UK MPs 1832–1835
UK MPs 1835–1837
UK MPs 1837–1841
UK MPs 1841–1847
Australian penal colony administrators
Fellows of the Royal Society
Van Diemen's Land people
Sheriffs of Warwickshire
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
19th-century Australian public servants
People educated at Harrow School