Philip Metcalfe, , (29 August 1733 – 26 August 1818), was an English

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...

politician, a malt distiller and a philanthropist. The Metcalfe family were from

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

of the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

faith and Royalists during the

Civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

Family and early life

He was born in London on 29 August 1733 and christened in

Much Hadham Much Hadham, formerly known as Great Hadham, is a village and civil parish in the district of East Hertfordshire, Hertfordshire, England. The parish of Much Hadham contains the hamlets of Perry Green and Green Tye, as well as the village of Muc ...

in Hertfordshire on 14 December 1733, second son of Roger Metcalfe (1680 – 5 January 1744–5), a surgeon of Brownlow Street now Betterton Street, Drury Lane, London and Jemima Astley (born on 3 August 1703)."Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry", volume 2, p. 859. Metcalfe was named after his grandfather Sir Philip Astley (1667–1739), 2nd Baronet of Hill Morton. Jemima Metcalfe married afterwards to Henry Groome, a limen-draper of St Paul's, Covent Garden and who was also the Keeper of the

Guildhall A guildhall, also known as a "guild hall" or "guild house", is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commonly become town halls and in som ...

and a member of the

Worshipful Company of Musicians The Worshipful Company of Musicians is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. Its history dates back to at least 1350. Originally a specialist guild for musicians, its role became an anachronism in the 18th century, when the centre of ...

. Mectalfe is said to have been the apprentice of Robert Jones (died in 1774), a wine merchant and

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

director who became a member of Parliament for

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cromwell was born there ...

from 1754 to 1774. According to English painter and diarist

Joseph Farington Joseph Farington (21 November 1747 – 30 December 1821) was an 18th-century English landscape painter and diarist. Life and work Born in Leigh, Lancashire, Farington was the second of seven sons of William Farington and Esther Gilbody. His ...

, Jones wanted Meltcalfe to marry Ann Jones (1747–1832), his only daughter and sole heir, she was still a minor when she chose instead to marry with a

Marriage license A marriage license (or marriage licence in Commonwealth spelling) is a document issued, either by a religious organization or state authority, authorizing a couple to marry. The procedure for obtaining a license varies between jurisdictio ...

a British officer, James Whorwood Adeane (1740-1802) at

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it me ...

on 5 March 1763. Through his brother Christopher, Metcalfe became involved with the

Three Mills The Three Mills are former working mills and an island of the same name on the River Lea. It is one of London’s oldest extant industrial centres. The mills lie in the London Borough of Newham, but despite lying on the Newham side of the Lea, ...

venture in 1759. From partner, Metcalfe will eventually become the head of the Three Mills distillery.

Business and parliamentary career

Metcalfe was the head of the firm Metcalfe and co, a

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancient ...

distillery in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, the others partners were Metcalfe's brothers Christopher and Roger, James Mure, James Baker, William Bowman, Samuel Jones Vachell and Joseph Benjamin Claypole. Metcalfe was a member of Parliament for Horsham from 1784. He represented

Plympton Erle Plympton is a suburb of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England. It is in origin an ancient stannary town. It was an important trading centre for locally mined tin, and a seaport before the River Plym silted up and trade moved down river to Pl ...

, Devon from 1790 to 1796 and

Malmesbury Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the upp ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

from 1796. Of his parliamentary career, Metcalfe left few records, each times voting on Pitt side including Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond, Richmond's fortifications plan along the southern coast of England (27 Feb 1786) and stood with him on the most debated Regency Acts#Regency Bill 1789, Regency Bill of 1789.

Arts

With the financial success brought by the gin trade, Metcalfe became a passionate art collector and was a patron of the arts. Among his friends and acquaintances were the writers Samuel Johnson, Frances Burney, the painter Sir Joshua Reynolds, the philosopher Jeremy Bentham and West India merchant and art collector Robert Fullarton Udny (1722–1802) of Teddington, Middlesex. He sat for two portraits that are in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery (London), National Portrait Gallery: one by Pompeo Batoni and one by draughtsman and engraver artist William Evans (after Edward Scott's stipple engraving). He was appointed an executor to Joshua Reynolds's will, along with Edmund Burke and Edmond Malone. In 1760 Metcalfe joined the Royal Society of Arts. In 1785, he was made a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, in 1786 and in 1790, under Reynolds's patronage, Metcalfe was elected a member of the Society of Dilettanti and of the Royal Society. Metcalfe was also a member of the The Club (dining club), Club. and one of the co-signatories of the Round-robin (document), Round Robin sent to Dr. Johnson to implore him to revise his Epitaph on poet Oliver Goldsmith.

Legacy

Between 1815 and 1817 he erected a new mill, the ''Clock Mill'', at the Three Mills, decorated with an inscription bearing his initials ''PM''. Alms Houses at Hawstead - geograph

Metcalfe was noted for his benefactions to charity, he had erected at Hawstead in 1811 the Alms House for ''the benefit of the Aged and Deserving Poor''.

Miscellany

Metcalfe was mentioned with his Business partner, associate and Kinship, kinsman James Baker and Jesse Ramsden in the Letter (message), correspondence between Abraham Pilling and Evan Nepean."Letter from Abraham Pelling setting down, at Evan Nepean's request, his thoughts on the fragility of French defences on the Channel coast", 20 May 1793, folio 395, Reference HO 42/25/166, National Archives

Later life

Metcalfe died a bachelor in Brighton, Sussex on 26 August 1818, aged 85."Philip Metcalfe, Esq, late of Hill street, Berkeley Square, London" (Obituary), ''The Gentlemans's Magazine'', from July to December 1818, p. 379. and was buried a week later on 3 September 1818 in the north aisle of the parish church of St Nicholas' Church, Brighton, St Nicholas. At the time of his death, his estate was valued at £400,000. Metcalfe heir was his great-nephew Henry Metcalfe (1790–1849), son of Christopher Barton Metcalfe and Sophia Andrews.

Heraldry

''The Arms are Argent, three calves passant sa''.

Notes

References

Sources

*The Early Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney, Volume V, 1782–3. *Life of Samuel Johnson, Volume 4 by James Boswell. *Eight Friends of the Great, by William Prideaux Courtney, published by London Constable and Company, 1910. *The

, Brombley by Bow, Tide Mills, part three, by E.M Gardner with a foreword from Sir Godfrey Nicholson, MP, 13 March 1957. *The Three Mills distillery in the Georgian era, by Keith Fairclough, published by River Lea Tidal Mill Trust Ltd *Philip Metcalfe (1733–1818), the MP and industrialist who built the Clock Mill, by Keith Fairclough.

External links

* History of Parliament
Philip Metcalfe
* Papers concerning the Sir Joshua Reynolds estate

* Will of Philip Metcalfe of Hill Street Berkeley Square, Middlesex

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Metcalfe, Philip 1733 births 1818 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Plympton Erle Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Malmesbury UK MPs 1801–1802 British MPs 1784–1790 British MPs 1790–1796 British MPs 1796–1800 Fellows of the Royal Society People from Hawstead Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Plympton Erle