Frederick Pennington (7 March 1819 – 11 May 1914) was an English

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

and Liberal politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

from 1874 to 1885.

Life

Pennington was the son of John Pennington, cotton spinner and merchant of

Hindley Hindley may refer to: Places * Hindley, Greater Manchester, England ** Hindley (ward), an electoral ward of the Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council * Hindley, Northumberland, England Other uses * Hindley (surname) * Hindley Manufacturing, Ameri ...

, Lancashire and Elizabeth, daughter of John Hargreaves of

Westhoughton Westhoughton ( ) is a List of towns in England, town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southwest of Bolton, east of Wigan and northwest of Manchester.Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

and in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

from 1830 to 1832. After many years working as an

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

merchant, he retired from business in 1865. He was a J.P. for

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. Pennington was a member of the council of the Anti-Corn Law League which he supported generously. He was an advanced Liberal, part of the relatively radical Liberal group, championing free trade, the end to church-state mixed local administration and mass production. In 1868, Pennington stood for parliament unsuccessfully at

West Surrey West Surrey (formally the Western division of Surrey) was a parliamentary constituency in the county of Surrey, which returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the bl ...

. At the 1874 general election he was elected member of parliament for

Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...

. He held the seat, through an era of the same representation elections, until standing down for the 1885 election. Pennington lived at Broome Hall, Holmwood on the southern slopes of the

Greensand Ridge The Greensand Ridge, also known as the Wealden Greensand, is an extensive, prominent, often wooded, mixed greensand/sandstone escarpment in south-east England. Forming part of the Weald, a former dense forest in Sussex, Surrey and Kent, it ...

where the weekend gatherings included many eminent guests from the worlds of politics, art and literature. Pennington married in 1854 Margaret Landell Sharpe, daughter of John Sharpe, Vicar of

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

. She was heavily involved in the women's movement and a campaigner for emancipation and suffrage. One of Pennington's sisters married

Thomas Thomasson Thomas Thomasson (18081876) was a political economist and a campaigner for the repeal of the Corn Laws who was one of Bolton's greatest benefactors. Life Thomasson was born at Turton into a Bolton family and was grandson of one of the original ...

. He died, aged 95, survived by his widow at his London home or rental, 17 Hyde Park Terrace. His probate was sworn in 1914 at .

References

External links

* 1819 births 1914 deaths Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1874–1880 UK MPs 1880–1885 People from Holmwood Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Stockport {{England-Liberal-UK-MP-stub