William Langham Christie (31 May 1830 – 28 November 1913) of

Glyndebourne Glyndebourne () is an English country house, the site of an opera house that, since 1934, has been the venue for the annual Glyndebourne Festival Opera. The house, located near Lewes in East Sussex, England, is thought to be about six hundr ...

, Sussex, and

Tapeley Tapeley is a historic estate in the parish of Westleigh in North Devon, England. The present mansion house known as Tapeley Park is a grade II* listed country house, built or enlarged from an existing structure in about 1704, remodeled i ...

, North Devon, was a British

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 ...

politician. Glyndebourne 1

He was the son of Langham Christie, who had inherited

, the Sussex country house now famous for its music festival, after paying off a rival family claimant. William succeeded his father in 1861. William was the grandson of Daniel Beat Christin, a Swiss of obscure origins who anglicised his surname to Christie on entering the service of the East India Company and who retired to England in the 1780s having made a sudden fortune and an advantageous marriage to the daughter of Sir Purbeck Langham which brought Glyndebourne into the Christin/Christie family. During the 1870s William made substantial alterations to Glyndebourne, adding a brick extension, ornate stonework and balustrading. In 1876 he engaged architect

Ewan Christian Ewan Christian (1814–1895) was a British architect. He is most frequently noted for the restorations of Southwell Minster and Carlisle Cathedral, and the design of the National Portrait Gallery. He was Architect to the Ecclesiastical Commiss ...

to install bay windows and add decorative brickwork to give the house its current Jacobean appearance. He was elected as the

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

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

at the 1874 general election, having unsuccessfully contested the seat in

1865 Events January–March * January 4 – The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at Broad Street (Manhattan), 10-12 Broad near Wall Street, in New York City. * January 13 – American Civil War : Sec ...

and

1868 Events January–March * January 2 – British Expedition to Abyssinia: Robert Napier leads an expedition to free captive British officials and missionaries. * January 3 – The 15-year-old Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji of Jap ...

. He was the first Conservative MP to represent Lewes 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. ...

since Henry Fitzroy had died in 1860. Christie was re-elected in

1880 Events January–March * January 22 – Toowong State School is founded in Queensland, Australia. * January – The international White slave trade affair scandal in Brussels is exposed and attracts international infamy. * February � ...

, and retired from

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

at the 1885 general election.

Family

He married in 1855 Agnes Hamilton Clevland, who was heir to

Tapeley Park Tapeley is a historic estate in the parish of Westleigh in North Devon, England. The present mansion house known as Tapeley Park is a grade II* listed country house, built or enlarged from an existing structure in about 1704, remodeled i ...

in Devon, which the couple rebuilt with a "severe brick facade". Their children were Augustus Langham Christie and Agnes Chichester Dixon-Hartland. Glyndebourne and Tapeley passed to John Christie, the son of Augustus Langham.

References

External links

* 1830 births 1913 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1874–1880 UK MPs 1880–1885 {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1830s-stub