Marshe Dickinson
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Marshe Dickinson (24 June 1703 – 6 February 1765) was a British 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 ...
between 1754 and 1765 and held the office of
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between 1756 and 1757. Dickinson served as a Tory Member of Parliament and was affiliated with the interest of the Duke of Bedford during his time in Parliament.


Early life and career

Dickinson was the third son of John Dickinson, a London merchant and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of fellow merchant Thomas Powell and goddaughter of Francis Marshe. Dickinson was baptised at the parish church of
St Peter le Poer St Peter le Poer was a parish church on the west side of Broad Street in the City of London. Established before the end of the 12th Century, it was rebuilt in 1540, and again in 1792 to a design by Jesse Gibson with a circular nave. It was dem ...
on Broad Street in the
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in June 1703. Dickinson was educated at
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until the age of fifteen in 1718 and later entered the
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before being called in 1728 after which he became a city attorney, later being listed as a practicing lawyer.


Marriage and family

In 1726, aged 23, he married Mary Cleve, daughter of Alexander Cleeve and his wife Mary, both of London. Dickinson remained married to his wife until her death in 1732 at the age of 29, after which he does not appear to have remarried. From his marriage Dickinson had two children, Mary Marsh Dickinson born in 1728, and John Marsh Dickinson born in 1730. Dickinson's son later served as Surveyor of the Gardens and sat on the
Board of Green Cloth The Board of Green Cloth was a board of officials belonging to the Royal Household of England and Great Britain. It took its name from the tablecloth of green baize that covered the table at which its members sat. It audited the accounts of the ...
but was convinced to give up the position to
Richard Vernon Richard Evelyn Vernon (7 March 1925 – 4 December 1997) was a British actor. He appeared in many feature films and television programmes, often in aristocratic or supercilious roles. Prematurely balding and greying, Vernon settled into playi ...
in favour of a pension despite his father's unease at the proposal. Through his daughter, who married Robert Ball in 1751, Dickinson was the grandfather of officer
Ingram Ball Ingram Ball (1752 – 18 March 1807) was British born and was an officer in the 33rd Regiment of Foot, and later in the 7th Light Dragoons of the British army, reaching a rank of captain-lieutenant before resigning in 1780. Ball arrived in Cap ...
and Sir
Alexander Ball Rear-Admiral Sir Alexander John Ball, 1st Baronet (22 July 1757 – 25 October 1809) was a Royal Navy officer and colonial administrator who served as the civil commissioner of Malta from 1799 to 1801 and again from 1802 to 1809. He was born in ...
, later
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.


Municipal politics

Dickinson was elected a common councillor in the City of London in 1738 and served until 1743. From 1749 until his death he served as an
alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...
, later becoming a
Sheriff of London Two Sheriffs of the City of London are elected annually by the members of the City livery companies. Today's Sheriffs have only ceremonial duties, but the historical officeholders held important judicial responsibilities. They have attended the ...
between 1751 and 1752, and serving a term as
Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the Mayors in England, mayor of the City of London, England, and the Leader of the council, leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded Order of precedence, precedence over a ...
between 1756 and 1757. In London politics Dickinson was considered a moderate Tory and aligned with fellow alderman and Member of Parliament for the
City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...
Robert Ladbroke Sir Robert Ladbroke (1713 – 31 October 1773) was an English merchant and politician who sat in the British House of Commons from 1754 to 1770. He also served Lord Mayor of London in 1747. Ladbroke was a member of a Warwickshire family who ...
. Dickinson served as Lord Mayor between in the year from 1756 which fell at the same time as the loss of Minorca. Under him the City address presented by mainly Tory aldermen including Ladbroke and Dickinson to King George II asked for 'the authors of our late losses and disappointments to be inquired and punished' which the King informed the city would be the case. In March 1757 at the time of Admiral
John Byng Admiral (Royal Navy), Admiral John Byng (baptised 29 October 1704 – 14 March 1757) was a Royal Navy officer and politician who was court-martialled and executed by firing squad. After joining the navy at the age of thirteen, he participate ...
's trial and execution a handful of Tory aldermen attempted to gain Dickinson's support for a petition to spare Byng's life, which the Lord Mayor considered to be too late. Byng was executed less than a week later.


Westminster politics

Dickinson was recommended in 1753 by the
Duke of Bedford Duke of Bedford (named after Bedford, England) is a title that has been created six times (for five distinct people) in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1414 for Henry IV's third son, John, who later served as regent of Fran ...
to his nephew the
Duke of Bridgewater Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they a ...
as a candidate to be brought into the next Parliament. In 1754 he contested the seat of
Brackley Brackley is a market town and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England. It is on the borders with Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, east-southeast of Banbury, north-northeast of Oxford, and ...
in Northamptonshire, a pocket borough of Bridgewater managed by his uncle. Dickinson contested the seat along with Henry Vernon, an outgoing MP for
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who was also patronised by Bedford. The contest occurred while the young Duke of Bridgewater was on his Grand Tour which enabled a strong local opposition to form and organise behind a hitherto unknown outsider, Thomas Humberston. Bedford, fearing the loss of his nephew's interest in the seat authorised his election agents to spend anywhere up to two-thousand pounds to secure the election of the two pledged candidates. This proved difficult as the local opposition interest was alert and spent equally heavily, thus ensuring its success. Dickinson was easily returned, while Humberston narrowly outpolled Vernon. Humberston desired to consolidate his support in the borough, yet he died a year later, allowing the seat to revert to the Bedford interest. 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 ...
Dickinson sat as both a Tory and a
Bedfordite The Bedford Whigs (or Bedfordites) were an 18th-century British political faction, led by John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford. Other than Bedford himself, notable members included John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich; Granville Leveson-Gower, 2 ...
at the same time, thus demonstrating the increasing strain that partisan labels were coming under by the midpoint of the 18th-century. Dickinson, like other Tories who owed their seats to Bedford, such as Robert Henley-Ongley were obliged to vote as the Duke pleased, unless issues of party principle intervened. He was proposed as a candidate in London at the 1761 general election, but withdrew after failing to receive sufficient support and was returned unopposed as a Member for Brackley with Robert Wood, an Anglo-Irish antiquarian and fellow Bedfordite. Dickinson was among the over one-hundred Tories returned at the election, the last time a coherent Tory party was present at a general election during this period. At the reconvening of Parliament in October 1761 Dickinson was discussed as a potential candidate of
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along with fellow Tory Thomas Prowse, Member for Prowse. Ultimately Sir John Cust was elected unanimously to serve as the new Speaker of the House after the resignation of long-serving Speaker
Arthur Onslow Arthur Onslow (1 October 169117 February 1768) was an English politician. He set a record for length of service when repeatedly elected to serve as Speaker of the House of Commons, where he was known for his integrity. Early life and educat ...
. Dickinson was, however, elected as the
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in November 1761, a position he was deemed suited to on account of his links to merchants and finance. From this post he was paid a £500 per annum stipend courtesy of the government's secret service funds. In Parliament Dickinson was mostly interested in pedestrian matters, with him intervening in debates on the Insolvent Debtors' Act in November 1761, a toll on
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in February 1762, a debate in March 1762 where Bedford's interests were involved, and a debate on a 'fish bill' with exemptions for
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later in March 1763. On the earlier March debate,
Lewis Namier Sir Lewis Bernstein Namier (; 27 June 1888 – 19 August 1960) was a British historian of Polish-Jewish background. His best-known works were '' The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III'' (1929), ''England in the Age of the Ame ...
quotes James Harris who noted:
A bill had come to us from the Lords about certain trust lands at Tavistock, relating to the Duke of Bedford’s affairs, and which he had brought in. There was a clause in it to declare that those lands were to convey no right of voting in that borough. This got among the Commons as a breach of their privileges, and the bill had certainly been flung out had not Alderman Dickinson moved that it be withdrawn. He was mistaken in the manner of doing this, by beginning that he had authority from a noble duke, etc. We want no authority from noble dukes, nor from those greater than dukes, to empower us to do our acts.
Dickinson's political positions were often dictated by Bedford, as in the case of the aforementioned 'fish bill' where Dickinson reported that he was awaiting the Duke's direction on how to progress with the bill. The 1760s was a period in British politics characterised by ministerial instability, with a succession of seven short-lived ministries. This also coincided with the dissipating of the old Tory and Whig parties in favour of a series of personal parties constructed around leading political figures. Dickinson was among the Tories who aligned under the Bedfordite faction, among the smaller factions in Parliament during this period.Hill, British, pp.236–8, Allen & Unwin, (1985) Dickinson generally followed the Bedfordite line and supported the
Bute Bute or BUTE may refer to: People * Marquess of Bute, a title in the Peerage of Great Britain; includes lists of baronets, earls and marquesses of Bute * Lord of Bute, a title in medieval Scotland, including a list of lords * Lucian Bute (born ...
and Grenville ministries, which both included the Duke of Bedford within their ranks. Dickinson was a supporter of the peace preliminaries negotiated and agreed to by Bedford in Paris which brought the
Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...
to an end. Dickinson did, however, break with Bedford on occasion when his Tory principles or personal pride came into conflict with the Bedfordite line. A notable occasion of this was when Bedford attempted to convince Dickinson's son John to vacate his position on the Board of the Green Cloth in favour of Richard Vernon, with an assurance of a pension. The elder Dickinson viewed this as a slur upon his family, requesting Bedford desist and even appealed to
King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...
for assistance. Dickinson finally acquiesced upon receiving assurances that there would be no financial loss to his son and family. Dickinson died while still in office on 6 February 1765 at the age of 61 in
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, Hertfordshire. He was survived by his two children in addition to their families. Dickinson was succeeded in a by-election in Brackley by John Montagu who likewise adhered to the Bedfordite line.


Electoral record


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickinson, Marshe 1703 births 1765 deaths British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1754–1761 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Tory members of the Parliament of Great Britain 18th-century lord mayors of London