He was born at Bristol on 31 March 1815, eldest of six surviving sons (there were seven daughters) of James Gilpin (1780–1855) and Mary Gilpin (born Sturge, 1789–1842), a sister of Joseph and Edmund Sturge.
He was educated at Sidcot School from 1824 to 1828.[9] At the age of 13, he organised a mock trial, "with great ability".[10]
His first job was as a traveller for a Manchester warehouse. During this period he came under the influence of the liberal views of his uncle Joseph and Richard Cobden. By way of their opposition to the Corn Laws, Gilpin received a training in public speaking so successful that "before he was five-and-twenty, his services were widely sought in favour of many great public movements of the time" (Times obituary).[11]
Marriage and children
He married Anna Crouch (1811–1892),[12] daughter of William Crouch (1768?–1854) of Falmouth, accountant, and Lucretia Crouch (born Anson, 1777–1858).
The number, gender and lives of their children is unclear:
A daughter called Anna was born 1 December 1840,[13] married on 21 September 1872 to Richard Pigott[14] and was a beneficiary of Gilpin's Will.
A biographical entry in Sidcot School: The Register of Old Scholars says Charles Gilpin married Anna Crouch c.1839 at Falmouth and had children named Anne, Louis and Charles.[9]
Milligan's Biographical Dictionary[15] says there were two sons and two daughters of the marriage.
An obituary of Charles Gilpin says that an only son died, after a long illness, the sorrow of this loss leading to Gilpin's own death in 1874.[16]
Publishing and book-selling
In 1842, Charles Gilpin moved to London and took over the stock of the bookseller's and publisher's business of Edward Fry (1783–1841) moving it from Houndsditch to No. 5, Bishopsgate Street Without in the City of London. The business was successful but in 1853,[17] he retired to develop his other business, philanthropic and political interests. The publishing business was apparently taken over by William & Frederick G. Cash and later Alfred William Bennett.
He also published a large number of memoirs of the lives of Quakers, including those of Elizabeth Fry and William Allen. He published the Scriptural verse of Lovell Squire, his wife's sister's husband. He published Aunt Jane’s Verses, for Children ... Illustrated in 1851: Aunt Jane was Jane Crewdson.
Gilpin published at least two books on the subject of water cure or hydropathy. One, by E.S. Abdy was translated from German,[19] the other was on the waters of Ben Rhydding in West Yorkshire.[20]
In 1842, at the request of a weighty Quaker board,[23] he launched and published The Friend, an open-minded evangelical Quaker magazine. The first issue was dated "First-month 1843", under the editorship of Charles Tylor. In 1849, Gilpin purchased the publication from the board and was its editor from 1852 until 1857. The magazine is still in publication.
Since 1841, the Perth constituency had been represented in Parliament by Fox Maule, the heir apparent of his father, Baron Panmure. He was Secretary at War from July 1846 to January 1852, when for two or three weeks he was President of the Board of Control (overseeing the British East India Company). In April 1852,[25] he succeeded his father as 2nd Baron Panmure.
Fox Maule's appointment to the Board of Control necessitated a by-election.[26] Gilpin challenged him, supported by local reformers and a meeting to nominate the candidate was held on Monday 9 February 1852. Maule defended his record in Parliament and in Office, "amidst mingled cheers and hisses".
Mr. Gilpin was also greeted by cheers and hisses and stated that 150 to 200 electors had invited him to stand as "the Rt Hon Gentleman had not fulfilled his profession of reform". Maule had justified the continuation of the Government Grant to the Catholic Maynooth College. Gilpin said he was against all state funding of religion and would vote against the continuation of the grant.
However, when Mr. Maule demanded a poll, despite a show of hands in Gilpin's favour, Gilpin withdrew and Maule was declared returned.
Maule's elevation to the House of Lords on the death of his father on 13 April 1852 caused a further by-election in Perth. However, he had already offered to stand for the Forfar constituency.[25]
The liberal contestants for Perth were Charles Gilpin and Hon. Arthur Kinnaird and their supporters were almost equally divided between the two candidates. Through the Conservative vote, Gilpin lost to Kinnaird (325 against 225 votes).[27] Gilpin did not stand for Parliament at the July 1852 General Election.
Gilpin opposed the Conspiracy to Murder Bill of 1858, drafted in response to the attempted assassination of Napoleon III on 4 January 1858. The plot was hatched in England. The bill sought to increase the penalty for conspiring to murder persons abroad from a misdemeanour to a felony.[32][33] The failure of the bill led to Palmerston's resignation as Prime Minister and the general election of 1859.
He also strongly condemned the massacre during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 of hundreds of disarmed Indian sepoys at Ajnala in Punjab on the orders of Frederick Henry Cooper, the Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar, declaring "one such atrocity as this would do more to excite burning hatred to our power and to our faith, everything multiplied a hundred fold, than the missionaries could eradicate in the next century".[34]
Role in Government
In view of his opposition[35] to the Conspiracy bill, it is surprising that Palmerston offered Gilpin a job in his 1859 Government and that Gilpin accepted, having negotiated that he would not be bound by the party whip. The job was Secretary of the Poor Law Board. This appointment did not please his fellow Quaker, John Bright MP, who remarked "Thou'd better have a rope put around your neck".[10] Gilpin served until 1865.[36]
He was chairman of the National Freehold Company, Moorgate and the British Land Company from its establishment in 1857 until 1873[39] and a director of the National Provident Life Assurance Company.[15][40][41]
Charles Gilpin's home at 10, Bedford Square, London
His obituary in The Friend says: "As a Friend, he took a warm interest in the welfare of the Society. His clear voice was often heard at Yearly Meeting [the annual gathering of British Quakers] . . . our Friend's sphere of action often seemed more political than religious, but we believe the motive power that influenced him was his acceptance of Christianity as a spiritual reality . . . intended for all men".[47] In 1855, he was a member of the Committee of the Friends Temperance Union.[48]
Death and legacy
Charles Gilpin
After a period of illness, he died at his home, 10 Bedford Square, London[49][50] on 8 September 1874. More than 1,000 people attended his funeral at the Friends Burial Ground, Winchmore Hill.[51] His will left everything to his wife (except 50 guineas to several persons), and after her death, to their daughter, Mrs Anna Crouch Pigott.[52]
At the by-election, following his death, Charles George Merewether (Conservative) was elected for the Northampton Constituency, which Gilpin had represented for seventeen years.[53]
The last executions in the United Kingdom, by hanging, took place in 1964. Although not applied since, the death penalty remained on the statute book for certain other offences until 1998.
In 1968, Duke University bought a large quantity of Charles Gilpin's papers, which are now carefully catalogued and available to scholars.[24]
References
Main Sources
Obituary in The Times, 9 September 1874, p. 7; issue 28103, Column F: "The late Charles Gilpin M.P."
Biographical catalogue of the Friends Institute (1888) pp. 279–280: "Charles Gilpin, MP Born 1815-Died 1874 – aged 59 years", quoting Illustrated London News 12 September 1874 and 19 September 1874.
Notes
^The Manchester Guardian; 15 January 1848; Gilpin addresses a public meeting against capital punishment in Liverpool.
^The Times, Wednesday, 21 November 1849; p. 5; Issue 20339; col D: Letter to the Editor, against Capital Punishment.
^Editorial in The Times, critical of Gilpin's abolitionist amendment and his presentation of the case for abolition The Times, Wednesday, 22 April 1868; p. 8; Issue 26105; col E .
^The Observer; 27 March 1869; "Parliamentary business after Easter" (Gilpin hopes to introduce a bill to abolish Capital Punishment).
^Birth of Anna Gilpin (later Pigott) on 1 December 1840, in Montpellier, Bristol in the Digest Register of London & Middlesex Quarterly Meeting 1837–1959 (microfilm) at The Library of the Society of Friends, London. No other children of Charles and Anna Gilpin were recorded in this Register, after this date.
^Note of marriage of Gilpin's daughter, Anna to Richard Pigott -The Observer, 29 September 1872 p. 8.
^ abcMilligan's Biographical Dictionary .... See Sources above for bibliographical details.
^Obituary of Charles Gilpin in The British Friend, Vol.32 (1874), p. 306.
^The Times, Friday, 14 January 1853; p. 11; Issue 21325; col C: contains a number of advertisements for books, on sale at W. and F.G. Cash (Successors to C. Gilpin) at 5 Bishopsgate without.
^Peace Congress, 2d, Paris, 1849. Report of the proceedings of the second general Peace Congress, held in Paris on the 22nd, 23rd, and 24 August 1849. Compiled from authentic documents under the superintendence of the Peace Congress Committee. London, Charles Gilpin, 1849. Available at GoogleBooks.
^The Proceedings of the 1850 Congress were published by Charles Gilpin and are available online through GoogleBooks
^The Friend 11 October 1929 Vol.69 No. 41, pp. 897–899: Editorial-"Then and Now", 901–908,915 "The Friend and the men who made it". The board were John Hodgkin, Josiah Forster and George Stacey.
^ abThe Times, Friday, 16 April 1852; p. 8; Issue 21091; col D: "Death of Lord Panmure"
^The Times, Wednesday 11 February 1852, p. 8, Column C: "Perth election"
^The Times, Saturday, 15 May 1852; p. 8; Issue 21116; col D: "Election Intelligence" (Perth results received by Electric Telegraph).
^The Times, Wednesday, 18 March 1857; p. 9; Issue 22631; col C: "Election Intelligence". [1857: Gilpin selected at a meeting of Liberal electors, with an extract from his Address]
^Manchester Guardian; 4 June 1859; "Parliamentary Proceedings 3 June" – Newly Elected MPs sworn in – John Bright and Charles Gilpin affirm.
^Charles Gilpin should not be confused with Richard Gilpin (1801–1882), usually referred to as "Colonel Gilpin", who represented the Bedfordshire Constituency, 24 February 1851 – 31 March 1880
^Gilpin's electoral results (SOURCE: Emlyn Warren's database at The Library of the Society of Friends)
Perth 1852: votes 225 = 40%, 2nd of 2 candidates – not elected
Northampton
1857 1011 votes 52.1% 2nd of 3, Elected
1859 (by-election) 1151 votes 73% 1st of 4, Elected
^The Manchester Guardian; 24 February 1865; p. 3: "Court and Official announcements" – Speculation on his reasons for resigning.
^The Times, Friday, 30 August 1872; p. 4; Issue 27469; col C: Metropolitan Railway (long letter, responding to criticism of the governance of the Company). and Monday, 2 September 1872; p. 4; Issue 27471; col E.
^The Observer; 9 May 1858; Advertisement offering shares in the Asia Minor Central Railway Company, Charles Gilpin MP, was a Director, described as a Director of the South Eastern Railway
^10, Bedford Square is the address of his letter to the Editor of The Times, Tuesday, 26 October 1858; p. 4; Issue 23134; col E. Letters before that date are from 5, Bishopsgate without.
^The Observer 18 October 1874; "Wills and Bequests"
^The Times, Thursday, 8 October 1874; p. 10; Issue 28128; col E: "The Northampton Election"
Further reading
Harry Potter Hanging in judgement : religion and the death penalty in England from the bloody code to abolition; London : SCM Press, 1993 ISBN0-334-02533-8
"Friends & capital punishment" by Charles R. Simpson. – In: Friends' quarterly examiner; Vol.57; no.227 (Fourth Month 1923), p. 169–177
