William Wells (15 March 1818 – 1 May 1889)
was an English
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
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politician who sat 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. ...
from 1852 to 1857 and from 1868 to 1874.
Wells was the son of Captain William Wells, R.N. and his wife Lady Elizabeth Proby, daughter of
John Proby, 1st Earl of Carysfort
John Joshua Proby, 1st Earl of Carysfort, Order of St Patrick, KP, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, PC, Privy Council of Ireland, PC (Ire), Royal Society, FRS (12 August 1751 – 7 April 1828) was a British judge, diplomat, Whig (Br ...
, and grandson of Vice-Admiral Thomas Wells, of Holme, whose father, William, had inherited the estate from his wife's uncle, Thomas Truman, in 1768.
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 ...
and at
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...
, and served in the
1st Life Guards from 1839 until 1843.
In 1826 he inherited
Holmewood Hall in Huntingdonshire from his father. He also inherited the Redleaf estate in Kent from his great-uncle William.
He was a
J.P. and a
Deputy Lieutenant for Kent and Huntingdonshire.
At the
1852 general election Wells was elected as a member of parliament (MP) for the
borough of Beverley.
He held the seat until his defeat in the
1857
Events January–March
* January 1 – The biggest Estonian newspaper, ''Postimees'', is established by Johann Voldemar Jannsen.
* January 7 – The partly French-owned London General Omnibus Company begins operating.
* Janua ...
by the Liberal
Edward Glover.
An
election petition
An election petition refers to the procedure for challenging the result of a Parliamentary election.
Outcomes
When a petition is lodged against an election return, there are 4 possible outcomes:
# The election is declared void. The result is q ...
was lodged by Wells
[ ] on the grounds that Glover was not duly qualified,
[ ]
because he did not meet the property-holding requirements.
[ ]
The issue had been raised during the election, and handbills circulated to that effect, but Glover had denied the allegations.
On 3 August 1853, the committee ruled that Glover had not been duly qualified, and that his election was void.
[ ]
A
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
was held on 11 August 1853, when Wells stood again, but was defeated by the Conservative candidate
Henry Edwards.
Wells contested the
City of Peterborough
The City of Peterborough is a unitary authority district with city status in the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The area is named after its largest settlement, Peterborough but also covers a wider area of outlying villages and ha ...
at the
1852 general election, where he was the third-placed of the three Liberal candidates.
[Craig, pages 237–238] He won the seat at the
1868 general election,
defeating the Liberal MP
Thomson Hankey
Thomson Hankey (15 June 1805''London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538–1812'' – 13 January 1893) was a British merchant, a banker and a Liberal Party politician.
Hankey was the son of Thomson Hankey from Portl ...
,
a former
Governor of the Bank of England
The governor of the Bank of England is the most senior position in the Bank of England. It is nominally a civil service post, but the appointment tends to be from within the bank, with the incumbent grooming their successor. The governor of the Ba ...
. Wells remained an MP for Peterborough and held the seat until the
1874 general election,
when he did not stand again.
He was appointed
High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire
High may refer to:
Science and technology
* Height
* High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area
* High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory
* High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift to ...
for 1875.
He was also a keen agriculturalist and President of the
Royal Agricultural Society in 1880.
Wells died at the age of 71. He had married Lady Louisa Wemyss-Charteris, the daughter of the
Francis Wemyss-Charteris, 9th Earl of Wemyss
Francis Wemyss-Charteris, 9th Earl of Wemyss, 5th Earl of March (14 August 1795 – 1 January 1883), was a Scottish peer.
Early life
Wemyss-Charteris was born 14 August 1795, the son of Francis Douglas, 8th Earl of Wemyss and the former Margar ...
in 1854. They had no children.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, William
1818 births
1889 deaths
People educated at Harrow School
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 1852–1857
UK MPs 1868–1874
Politics of Peterborough
British Life Guards officers
Deputy Lieutenants of Kent
Deputy Lieutenants of Huntingdonshire
High Sheriffs of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire