Thomas Attwood (6 October 1783 – 6 March 1856) was a British

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becaus ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

, political campaigner and

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 o ...

. He was the leading figure of the underconsumptionist Birmingham School of economists, and, as the founder of the

Birmingham Political Union The Birmingham Political Union (General Political Union) was a grass roots pressure group in Great Britain during the 1830s. It was founded by Thomas Attwood, a banker interested in monetary reform. Its platform called for extending and redistrib ...

, the leading figure in the public campaign for the Great Reform Act of 1832.

Life and career

Thomas Attwood was born in Halesowen, then a detached part of

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

, and attended Halesowen Grammar School (now

Earls High School The Earls High School is a secondary school with academy status on Furnace Lane near the A458 in Halesowen, West Midlands. Established in 1652 and formerly Halesowen Grammar School, it also incorporates the former Halesowen Technical School. ...

) before being moved to Wolverhampton Grammar School. On 12 May 1806, Attwood married Elizabeth Carless from Lower Ravenhurst Farm, an area which is now part of the

Moor Pool Moor Pool (or Moorpool) is a garden suburb within the ward of Harborne, Birmingham, England. It was designated a Conservation Area in July 1970, which was raised by an Article 4(2) direction order in 2006. A Conservation Area Character Appraisa ...

estate. They had two sons, George de Bosco Attwood (15 March 1808), who stood unsuccessfully for the Walsall constituency in the 1832 general election, and Thomas Aurelius Attwood (4 March 1810). Their daughter Angela married

Daniel Wakefield Daniel Wakefield (1776–1846) was a writer on political economy. Life Daniel, born in 1776, was the second son of Edward Wakefield (1750–1826), merchant, of London, by his wife Priscilla Bell, daughter of Daniel Bell. Edward Wakefield (1774 ...

with whom she emigrated to New Zealand. He founded the

in 1830. This was a political organization campaigning for cities, and large towns such as Birmingham, to be directly represented in Parliament. The Birmingham Political Union was foremost among groups lobbying the government for the passage of a Reform Bill to achieve this aim. The Days of May in 1832 brought the people's struggle for wider

enfranchisement Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

to a head, and the Great Reform Act was passed on 15 May 1832. After this success he became one of the first two

Members 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 ...

(MPs) for

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

(along with Joshua Scholefield) on 12 December 1832, a position he held until 1839. Attwood lived at The Grove, a Georgian house in

Harborne Harborne is an area of south-west Birmingham, England. It is one of the most affluent areas of the Midlands, southwest from Birmingham city centre. It is a Birmingham City Council ward in the formal district and in the parliamentary constitu ...

, between 1823 and 1846. He died in Malvern,

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

in 1856.

Memorials

Thomas Attwood statue, Highgate Park, Birmingham

grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

statue of Thomas Attwood by local sculptor

Peter Hollins Peter Hollins (1 May 1800 – 16 August 1886) was a British sculptor operating throughout the 19th century. Life He was born on 1 May 1800 at 17 Great Hampton Street, Birmingham, the fourth child and eldest son of the sculptor and architect Wi ...

stood in Calthorpe Park from 1859 to 1974Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis then moved to Larches Green, Sparkbrook, Birmingham between 1974 and 2008, but is now in store. A 1993 bronze statue sat, having left his plinth, and scattered his bronze pages, on the steps of Chamberlain Square in Birmingham until 2016 when works to demolish the Central Library and rebuild Chamberlain Square began. The statue was reinstalled in 2020 once the works were completed. Attwood Street, a residential street in Halesowen, commemorates his achievements.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* www.thepeoplescharter.co.uk *
Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Attwood, Thomas 1783 births 1856 deaths English economists Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies People educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School People from Halesowen People from Birmingham, West Midlands UK MPs 1832–1835 UK MPs 1835–1837 UK MPs 1837–1841

Life and career

Memorials

See also

References

Bibliography

External links