Samuel Whitbread (1764–1815)
Samuel Whitbread | |
---|---|
Born | Cardington, Bedfordshire, England | 18 January 1764
Died | 6 July 1815 | (aged 51)
Occupation | Politician |
Spouse |
Lady Elizabeth Grey (m. 1787) |
Children |
Samuel Whitbread (18 January 1764 – 6 July 1815) was a British politician.
Early life
Whitbread was born on 18 January 1764 in Cardington, Bedfordshire, the son of the brewer Samuel Whitbread.[1] He was educated at Eton College, Christ Church, Oxford, and St John's College, Cambridge,[2] after which he embarked on a European "Grand Tour", visiting Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Poland, Prussia, France, and Italy. He returned to England in May 1786 and joined his father's successful brewing business.[3]
Member of Parliament
Whitbread was elected as a
Whitbread took over the control of his father's estate, including Southill Park and the family brewing company following his father's death in 1796 and by the early 1810s, had introduced several new partners to bring investment to stabilise the finances of the company.[1] These included his cousin Jacob Whitbread and John Martineau (who would subsequently merge his brewery with Whitbreads in 1812).[1]
He raised a regiment of
Whitbread admired Napoleon and his reforms in France and Europe. He hoped that many of Napoleon's reforms would be implemented in Britain. Throughout the Peninsular War he played down French defeats convinced that sooner or later Napoleon would triumph, and he did all he could to bring about a withdrawal of Britain from the continent. When Napoleon abdicated in 1814 he was devastated. Whitbread began to suffer from depression, and on the morning of 6 July 1815, he committed suicide by cutting his throat with a razor.[8]
The Hammonds comment that "Whitbread is a politician to whom history has done less than justice... His most notable quality was his vivid and energetic sympathy; he spent his life in hopeless battles and died by his own hand of public despair."[4]
Family
Whitbread married Lady Elizabeth (1765–1846), the eldest daughter of the first Earl Grey on 26 December 1787.[9] Their sons, William Henry Whitbread and Samuel Charles Whitbread, were also Members of Parliament.
Samuel Whitbread Academy in Central Bedfordshire, England, is named after him.[10]
References
- ^ a b c Ritchie, p. 24.
- ^ "Whitbread (WHTT782S)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Ritchie, p. 34.
- ^ a b Hammond & Hammond, pp. 139–40.
- ^ Yonge, p., 190.
- ^ WO List 1805.
- ^ Burgoyne, pp. 56–8.
- ^ Ritchie, p. 45.
- ^ Ritchie, p. 43.
- ^ "Bedfordshire County Council: The Whitbread Family". www.bedfordshire.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 6 October 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2009.
Sources
- Lt-Col Sir John M. Burgoyne, Bart, Regimental Records of the Bedfordshire Militia 1759–1884, London: W.H. Allen, 1884.
- Hammond, J. L.; Hammond, Barbara (1912). The Village Labourer 1760-1832. Longman Green & Co.
- Ritchie, Berry (1992). An Uncommon Brewer, the Story of Whitbread. London: James & James. ISBN 978-0907383369..
- War Office, A List of the Officers of the Militia, the Gentlemen & Yeomanry Cavalry, and Volunteer Infantry of the United Kingdom, 11th Edn, London: War Office, 14 October 1805/Uckfield: Naval and Military Press, 2005, ISBN 978-1-84574-207-2.
- Charles Duke Yonge, The Life and Administration of Robert Banks, Second Earl of Liverpool, K. G., Late First Lord of the Treasury, Macmillan and Company, 1868.
External links
Further reading
- Fulford, Roger. Samuel Whitbread, 1764-1815: A study in opposition, MacMillan, 1967. (ISBN B0000CNFHB)