Correspondence of Thomas Perronet Thompson, members of his family, and other persons

Description

The material contains business and personal letters by Thomas Perronet Thompson and his family including distant relatives. It also encompasses notes on politics, religion and other topics. There are pencil drawings. The print collection includes pamphlets by Thomas Perronet Thompson. There are pamphlets on political, military and religious subjects.

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

The collection was used by L. G. Johnson, senior lecturer in economics in the University, for his biography, General T Perronet Thompson, London, 1957, and was presented to the Brotherton Library by his widow in 1970.

System of arrangement

The letters in this collection are divided into five series. MS 277/1 contains Thomas Perronet Thompson's own letters listed in chronological order. MS 277/2 comprises the letters of his family in alphabetical order of the writers. MS 277/3 consists of letters written by other people, either to members of the Thompson family or third parties on matters connected with the Thompsons. This series includes letters by distant relations of the Thompson family who do not bear that surname. MS 277/4-5 contains other manuscript material and some printed material.


The MS 277 catalogue is based on an historic inventory. 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.

Related material

See also MSS 278


The John Rylands Library, Manchester, possesses a collection of Thomas Perronet Thompson's letters to H B Peacock (Rylands English MS 1180). The bulk of his papers are in the library of the University of Hull. A copy of the schedule of the Hull collection may be consulted in the Brotherton Library, on request.

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