Thomas Bigge

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For other people with the same name, see Thomas Bigge (disambiguation).

Thomas Bigge
Born1766
Died1851
Alma materCorpus Christi College, Oxford
Occupation(s)Political writer and activist
RelativesWilliam Bigge (uncle)

Thomas Bigge (1766–1851) was an English political writer and activist. In his later life, he was a partner in the goldsmiths

Rundell, Bridge & Co.

Early life

He was the son of Thomas Bigge (died 1791) of Ludgate Hill, and his wife Elizabeth Rundell, elder sister of Philip Rundell the jeweller and goldsmith; William Bigge (1707–1758) was his uncle. The family owned property at Little Benton, near Longbenton, Northumberland, through his grandfather Thomas Bigge's marriage to the heiress Elizabeth Hindmarsh; and Thomas Bigge the father built the White House there.[1][2]

Bigge was educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, graduating B.A. in 1787.[3]

Political writer and correspondent of the 1790s

Further information: The Oeconomist, Or, Englishman's Magazine

From a prosperous family in business, with landowning interests, Bigge has been described as a "wealthy associate" of

fl. 1755–1803), a bookseller, and Solomon Hodgson, owner of the Newcastle Chronicle which was at this time a leading Whig journal in the region.[4][5][6]

Bigge was a close friend too of John Tweddell, an outspoken student radical;[7] his own views tended to a middle position between the radical and loyalist extremes, as did those of Wyvill and some other prominent reformers.[8] He corresponded with Charles Grey in the later 1790s.[3][9]

In 1795 Grey advised Bigge on an intended anti-war meeting for the county of Northumberland, with a view to keeping the radicals at arm's length: for prudence, no criticism of ministers, and no reform proposals.[10] Bigge prepared the ground, with handbills. When the meeting came about, in December, ostensibly to vote a loyal address, the local Whig grandees successfully took it over. A reported near 5,000 voted petitions against recent legislation.[11][12]

Bigge has also been described as a "wealthy friend" of

The Oeconomist, which appeared in 1798–9, was sustained by Bigge.[13]

Literary and Philosophical Society and New Institution

Bigge joined the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1795, and played a significant role there.[4] He was the main proponent of the New Institution at Newcastle, which began in 1802 as a lectureship for William Turner. Bigge was influenced by the example of the Royal Institution, while Turner followed the lecturing efforts of John Alderson and William Farish.[14][15]

Later life

Bigge became a partner in Rundell, Bridge & Co, the goldsmiths founded by Philip Rundell and John Bridge. From 1830, when a new partnership was drawn up, Bigge owned 25% of the goldsmiths; after Bridge's death, he was in charge of the firm with John Gawler Bridge.[16][17]

Queen Victoria's crown, made in 1838 by Rundell, Bridge & Co.

The business was involved with prominent artists. In particular, the "Shield of Achilles" project began with William Theed the elder, who died in 1817; and then passed to John Flaxman. The chasing itself was carried out by William Pitts II. Bigge presented a "Shield" to the Royal Society of Literature in 1849, with a portrait of Flaxman.[18][19][20][21] The firm made a new crown for Queen Victoria, less than half the weight of the one made for George IV.[22]

Philip Rundell withdrew capital from the firm in 1823.

Gentleman's Magazine reported that Rundell, unmarried and without a home, liked to spend his time with his Brompton niece (i.e. Maria Bigge) or Elizabeth Bannister, another niece.[25]

The important plate business was largely outsourced to William Bateman II, in 1834.[26] Rundell, Bridge & Co. stopped trading in 1843. The partnership was dissolved in 1845.[17]

Bigge is described as of "Brompton Row" (1817)[27] and later "of Bryanston Square";[28] also of Beddington, Surrey c.1835.[29]

Family

Bigge married Maria Rundell, a first cousin and niece of Philip Rundell, and the daughter of Thomas Rundell of Bath, a surgeon, and his wife

Maria Eliza Rundell, the writer on cookery. They had a large family of 13 children;[1][30][31][32] Maria died in Bryanston Square in 1846.[33]

Their eldest daughter Elizabeth married Lieutenant-colonel Alexander Anderson.[34] Daughter Augusta married Edward Pope, Archdeacon of Jamaica.[29] Georgiana married George Scovell and was mother of Sir Augustus Scovell the London politician.[35]

Thomas Hanway Bigge was a relation, and the two have sometimes been confused, in published works.

Notes

  1. ^ a b John Burke (1833). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland. p. 631.
  2. John Britton (1813). Beauties of England and Wales
    . T. Maiden. p. 78.
  3. ^ a b John Ritchie (1970). Punishment and Profit: the reports of Commissioner John Bigge on the Colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, 1822–1823; their origins, nature and significance. Heinemann. p. 35.
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-0-333-98394-2
    .
  5. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/64284. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  6. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/63760. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  7. ^ John Tweddell; Robert Tweddell (1815). Remains of the Late John Tweddell. p. 142 note.
  8. ISBN 978-1-317-87851-3
    .
  9. ^ "Grey, Charles (1764–1845), of Falloden and Howick, Northumb., History of Parliament Online". Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  10. ISBN 978-0-19-820163-2
    .
  11. ISBN 978-0-521-23928-8
    .
  12. ISBN 978-0-7618-1484-9
    .
  13. ^
    ISBN 978-0-901286-80-2
    .
  14. ^ Eneas Mackenzie (1827). A Descriptive and Historical Account of the Town and County of Newcastle Upon Tyne: Including the Borough of Gateshead. Mackenzie and Dent. p. 472.
  15. ISBN 978-1-135-67947-7
    .
  16. ^ Robert W. Lovett, Rundell, Bridge and Rundell – An Early Company History, Bulletin of the Business Historical Society Vol. 23, No. 3 (Sep. 1949), pp. 152–162, at p. 160. Published by: The President and Fellows of Harvard College.Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3111183
  17. ^
    ISBN 978-0-19-518948-3
    .
  18. ^ "Theed, William I, A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660–1851". Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  19. ISBN 978-0-19-518948-3
    .
  20. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/22346. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  21. ^ Royal Society of Literature (Great Britain) (1833). Proceedings. p. 279.
  22. ^ John McGilchrist (1868). The Public Life of Queen Victoria. Cassell, Petter, and Galpin. p. 82.
  23. ^ John Britton; T. E. Jones (1850). Personal and literary memoir of the author.-pt. 2. Descriptive account of his literary works, by T. E. Jones.-pt. 3. (Appendix) Biographical,topographical, critical and miscellaneous essays. p. 314.
  24. ^ James Losh (1963). The Diaries and Correspondence of James Losh. Vol. 2. Published for the Surtees Society by Andrews & Co. pp. 47–8.
  25. ^ Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review. 1827. p. 563.
  26. ISBN 978-1-55595-117-7
    .
  27. ^ John Nichols (1817). The Gentleman's Magazine. E. Cave. p. 466.
  28. ^ The Gentleman's Magazine. A. Dodd and A. Smith. 1853. p. 215.
  29. ^ a b The Spectator. F.C. Westley. 1835. p. 569.
  30. ^ The Annual Biography and Obituary. 1828. p. 318.
  31. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/24278. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  32. ^ John Southerden Burn (1834). The Fleet Registers. Comprising the history of Fleet marriages, and some account of the parsons and marriage-house keepers. Rivingtons. p. 111 note 1.
  33. ^ "Deaths". Newcastle Journal. 4 April 1846. Retrieved 25 June 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  34. ^ Thomas Campbell; Samuel Carter Hall; Edward Bulwer Lytton Baron Lytton; Theodore Edward Hook; Thomas Hood; William Harrison Ainsworth (1817). New Monthly Magazine. E. W. Allen. p. 360.
  35. ^ Edward Walford (1912). Walford's County Families of the United Kingdom. Spottiswoode & Company, Limited. p. 1039.
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