John Cunliffe Pickersgill-Cunliffe (1819 – 6 October 1873) was a British

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

er, who briefly served as member of parliament for

Bewdley Bewdley ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest District in Worcestershire, England, on the banks of the River Severn. It is in the Severn Valley, and is west of Kidderminster, north of Worcester and southwest of Birmingham. It ...

in 1869, representing the Conservative Party.

Early life

Born John Cunliffe Pickersgill in 1819 to John Pickersgill, a banker, and Sophia Pickersgill (''née'' Cunliffe), he assumed the name Cunliffe as a second surname in 1867, after inheriting the estate of an aunt of that name. He married Helen Hutton Dale, daughter of the Dean of

Rochester Cathedral Rochester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, is in Rochester, Kent, England. The cathedral is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Rochester and seat (''cathedra'') of the Bishop of Rocheste ...

, in 1849.

Election

In 1869, a by-election was held in the Bewdley constituency, after the victory of Richard Atwood Glass in the 1868 general election was declared void. Pickersgill-Cunliffe was elected in the by-election, only for his victory to also be declared void on petition later that year, in favour of

Augustus Anson Lieutenant-Colonel Augustus Henry Archibald Anson VC (5 March 1835 – 17 November 1877) was a member of the Anson family and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy t ...

. Pickersgill-Cunliffe served as an MP for only six weeks, from 11 March until 30 April 1869.

Death

Pickersgill-Cunliffe was struck by a train at Caterham Junction railway station (now known as Purley station) on 22 September 1873, near his home in

Coulsdon Coulsdon (, traditionally pronounced ) is a town in south London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon. Coulsdon was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey that included the settlements of Purley and Kenley. It was merged with Sand ...

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 ...

. He died two weeks later, on 6 October, at

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital founded by philanthropist Thomas Guy in 1721, located in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the Kin ...

in London. An inquest recorded a verdict of

accidental death An accidental death is an unnatural death that is caused by an accident, such as a slip and fall, traffic collision, or accidental poisoning. Accidental deaths are distinguished from death by natural causes, disease, and from intentional homici ...

References

1819 births 1873 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1868–1874 Railway accident deaths in England {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1810s-stub