William Henry Chicheley Plowden FRS (21 April 1787 – 29 March 1880) was an English politician and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

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 of ...

(MP) for

Newport, Isle of Wight Newport is the county town of the Isle of Wight, an island county off the south coast of England. The town is slightly north of the centre of the island, and is in the civil parish of Newport and Carisbrooke. It has a quay at the head of the nav ...

. Plowden was the son of Richard Plowden, and lived at Ewhurst Park,

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

. He was a director of the

Honourable East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

. He was appointed Second Superintendent of British Trade in China by

King William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

on 10December 1833 but in his absence the role passed to

John Francis Davis Sir John Francis Davis, 1st Baronet (16 July 179513 November 1890) was a British diplomat and sinologist who served as second Governor of Hong Kong from 1844 to 1848. Davis was the first President of Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong. Backgro ...

instead. In 1847 he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

, his candidature certificate saying that he was "an active promoter of the Trigonometrical Surveys of India, and other scientific operations carried on by the East India Company; and generally attached to science and anxious to promote its progress". In 1847 he was elected as Member of Parliament for Newport, Isle of Wight but only held the seat for one term. He was married twice - firstly in 1818 to Katherine Harding, daughter of

William Harding of Baraset William Harding of Baraset (1759–1822) was Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to George III, magistrate and deputy lieutenant of Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county t ...

. After her death in 1827 he was married again in 1830 to Jane Annette Campbell, daughter of Edward Campbell. Their son William Chichele Plowden was an administrator in India and also a Member of Parliament. Their granddaughter Pauline Georgiana Plowden married

Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen FRS FZS FRGS MBOU (6 July 1834 – 2 December 1923), known until 1854 as Henry Haversham Austen, was an English topographer, surveyor, naturalist and geologist. He explored the mountains ...

of the

Trigonometrical Survey of India The Great Trigonometrical Survey was a project that aimed to survey the entire Indian subcontinent with scientific precision. It was begun in 1802 by the British infantry officer William Lambton, under the auspices of the East India Company.Gil ...

.Kenneth Mason, revised by Elizabeth Baigent, 'Austen, Henry Haversham Godwin- (1834–1923)' in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press, 2004) odnb/33438

References

External links

* 1787 births 1880 deaths People from Basingstoke UK MPs 1847–1852 Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Fellows of the Royal Society Directors of the British East India Company Members of Parliament for the Isle of Wight {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1780s-stub