Joseph Pease (22 June 1799 – 8 February 1872) was a British proponent and supporter of the earliest public

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

system in the world and was the first

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

permitted to take his seat in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

Life

Joseph Pease joined his father

Edward Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sax ...

and other members of the

Pease family The Pease family is an English and mostly Quaker family associated with Darlington, County Durham, and North Yorkshire, descended from Edward Pease of Darlington (1711–1785). They were 'one of the great Quaker industrialist families of the ni ...

in starting the Stockton and Darlington Railway Company. In 1826 he married Emma Gurney, youngest daughter of Joseph Gurney of Norwich. They had twelve children, amongst whom, were Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease, his eldest son and Arthur Pease (1837-1898), who was his fourth son. Joseph's fifth child, Elizabeth Lucy Pease, married the agricultural engineer and inventor, John Fowler, a pioneer in the application of steam power to agriculture. In 1829, Pease was managing the Stockton and Darlington Railway, in place of his father. In 1830, he bought a sufficient number of the collieries in the area, to become the largest owner of collieries in

South Durham South Durham, formally the Southern Division of Durham and often referred to as Durham Southern, was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) by the bloc ...

. That same year, along with his father-in-law Joseph Gurney of Norfolk, and other Quaker businessmen, they bought a large tract of land at

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the ...

, which they projected as a port for exporting coal. In December 1830, a new railway line was opened on the Stockton and Darlington railway, to Middlesbrough, for transporting the coal to the new port. In addition to collieries, he was interested in quarries and ironstone mines in Durham and North Yorkshire, as well as in cotton and woollen manufactures, and he was active in educational and philanthropic work. Joseph Pease

In 1832, Pease was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

. As a Quaker, he was not immediately allowed to take his seat, because he refused to take the oath of office. A special committee considered the question and decided that Pease could affirm, rather than swear and thus, he was allowed to take his seat in Parliament, the first Quaker so to do. He was also unusual, in that, like most Quakers of the day, he refused to remove his hat, even when he entered the House of Commons. Pease introduced as a

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Pla ...

the

Cruelty to Animals Act 1835 The Cruelty to Animals Act 1835 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 59), intended to protect animals, and in particular cattle, from mistreatment. Its long title is An Act to Consolidate and Amend the Several ...

, being a member of the committee of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The law was passed in part due to lobbying by the Society (founded 1824, since 1840 the RSPCA). The 1835 Act amended the existing legislation to prohibit the keeping of premises for the purpose of staging the baiting of bulls, dogs, bears, badgers or "other Animal (whether of domestic or wild Nature or Kind)". The Act also banned (but failed to eradicate)

dog fighting Dog fighting is a type of blood sport that turns game and fighting dogs against each other in a physical fight, generally to the death, for the purposes of gambling or entertainment to the spectators. In rural areas, fights are often staged i ...

and

cockfighting A cockfight is a blood sport, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The first documented use of the ''word'' gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or ente ...

. Pease supported the Whig governments of

Earl Grey Earl Grey is a title in the peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1806 for General Charles Grey, 1st Baron Grey. In 1801, he was given the title Baron Grey of Howick in the County of Northumberland, and in 1806 he was created Viscou ...

and

Lord Melbourne William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, (15 March 177924 November 1848), in some sources called Henry William Lamb, was a British Whig politician who served as Home Secretary (1830–1834) and Prime Minister (1834 and 1835–1841). His first pr ...

. He joined

Thomas Fowell Buxton Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 1st Baronet (1 April 1786Olwyn Mary Blouet, "Buxton, Sir Thomas Fowell, first baronet (1786–1845)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online ed., May 201accessed 25 April 20 ...

in the

anti-slavery movement Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

. He supported the removal of bishops from the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

. He was also in favour of shorter Parliaments and the

secret ballot The secret ballot, also known as the Australian ballot, is a voting method in which a voter's identity in an election or a referendum is anonymous. This forestalls attempts to influence the voter by intimidation, blackmailing, and potential vo ...

. He retired from politics in 1841. In 1860, Pease became the president of the

Peace Society The Peace Society, International Peace Society or London Peace Society originally known as the Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace, was a pioneering British pacifist organisation that was active from 1816 until the 1930s. H ...

, a post he held until his death. He wrote a poem in praise of

Newington Academy for Girls The Newington Academy for Girls, also known as Newington College for Girls, was a Quaker school established in 1824 in Stoke Newington, then north of London. In a time when girls' educational opportunities were limited, it offered a wide rang ...

, founded by Quaker scientist and abolitionist, William Allen. Like his father before him, he is buried at the Friends Burial Ground, Skinnergate, Darlington, County Durham. A statue to Joseph Pease stands at the junction of High Row and Bondgate, in the centre of Darlington. It was unveiled in 1875, to mark the

golden jubilee A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations. Bangladesh In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali ''"সু� ...

of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. Joseph Pease also paid for the building of the

Clock Tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...

in Darlington as a gift to Darlington.

References

External links

* * https://web.archive.org/web/20050310035249/http://www.interactivitiesink.com/larps/brassy/parliament.shtml * http://www.spartacus-educational.com/REpease.htm
Joseph Pease Statue, High Row, Darlington

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pease, Joseph People of the Industrial Revolution Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1832–1835 UK MPs 1835–1837 UK MPs 1837–1841 English Quakers

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the m ...

People from Darlington People from County Durham Politics of Darlington 1799 births 1872 deaths Stockton and Darlington Railway 19th-century English businesspeople

Life

See also

References

External links