Additional papers of Thomas Perronet Thompson and members of his family
Details
Type of record: Archive
Title: Additional papers of Thomas Perronet Thompson and members of his family
Classmark: MS 823
Creator(s): Thompson, Thomas Perronet (1783-1869)
Date(s): c.1745-1941
Language: English; French
Size and medium: 176 items in 3 boxes
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/5716
Description
These papers supplement material in Special Collections MS 277. Some members of the family whose papers are included in this sub-collection appear in standard biographical reference books. There is a genealogy of the family in MS 823/176.
The present collection is particularly notable for Thomas Thompson's papers relating to banking in Hull in the 1790s and for some material on Sierra Leone when Thomas Perronet Thompson was briefly its governor at the beginning of the nineteenth century. There are also three letters from William Wilberforce.
Other members of his family represented are: (1) William Briggs (d. 1777); (2) Thomas Thompson (1754-1828); (3) John Vincent Thompson (1785-1856); (4) Charles William Thompson, I (1788-1813); (5) Charles William Thompson, II (1815-1896); (6) John Wycliffe Thompson (1824-1895); (7) Edith Perronet Thompson (1848-1929); (8) Charles William Thompson, III (1859-1940)
Biography or history
General Thomas Perronet Thompson (1783-1869) was a politician and reformer. His father was Thomas Thompson, a merchant and banker of Hull. His mother, Philothea Perronet Briggs, was related to Vincent Perronet, a Methodist and close friend of John Wesley.
Thomas Perronet Thompson served in the navy and the army and was appointed by the Crown in 1808 the first governor of Sierra Leone. On his return to England in 1822 he turned to politics. He was most active on behalf of the Anti-Corn Law League and wrote many articles and pamphlets in support of free trade.
His interests were extremely wide and included natural history, geometry, and music, as well as politics and economics. For seven years he owned the 'Westminster Review' and used it for the causes which were dear to him. At the Great Exhibition of 1851 he showed an enharmonic organ constructed according to his musical theories.
In June 1836 he entered Parliament as the member for Hull and only finally gave up his seat in 1859 after fighting for his policies whether in or out of Parliament.
Thomas Perronet Thompson married Anne Elizabeth [Nancy] Barker from York. They had three sons Thomas Perronet Edward, Charles William, and John Wycliffe all of whom had distinguished careers. The first was a lawyer, and became Recorder of Bradford. Charles William and John Wycliff were both soldiers, who served in India and elsewhere. T. P. E. Thompson's daughter was Edith Thompson who did much work in connection with the Oxford English Dictionary.
Provenance
These additional papers of Thomas Perronet Thompson and other members of his family were very kindly presented to the Library by Miss M W Thompson of Blandford, Dorset, in December 1984.
System of arrangement
The MS 823 catalogue is based on an historic inventory, created in 1988. The arrangement of material does not necessarily represent the original order of the archive and it is considered partly processed by an archivist. When making requests to consult, please be aware that there may be discrepancies between description and physical arrangement. The retrievable unit for this collection is file level.
Access and usage
Access
Access to this material is unrestricted.