Thomas Challis (1 July 1794 – 20 August 1874) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

businessman and

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politician who held office as a

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and as

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional pow ...

. Born in the

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, he was a hide merchant with business premises in the

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area of south London, and also was a skin broker in Finsbury. Challis was elected an

alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members them ...

for

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in 1844, an office he held until his death aged 80, when he was the senior member of the

court of aldermen The Court of Aldermen forms part of the senior governance of the City of London Corporation. It comprises twenty-five aldermen of the City of London, presided over by the Lord Mayor (becoming senior alderman during his year of office). The Cou ...

of the City of London. In 1846-47 he held the office of

Sheriff of London and Middlesex Two sheriffs are elected annually for the City of London by the Liverymen of the City livery companies. Today's sheriffs have only nominal duties, but the historical officeholders had important judicial responsibilities. They have attended the ju ...

and was Lord Mayor of London in 1856–57. A member of the Worshipful Company of Butchers, he was master of the company in 1839. In June 1852 a general election was called and a group of 500 electors in the Clerkenwell area presented a petition to Challis requesting that he stand for election to parliament for the constituency of Finsbury. He consented to become a candidate, declaring that if elected he would "exercise his own judgement, and, opposing all class legislation, he should make truth the basis of his conduct, and the happiness of the people his object." There were three candidates for the two-seat constituency, and Challis was elected along with his fellow Liberal,

Thomas Slingsby Duncombe Thomas Slingsby Duncombe (179613 November 1861) was a Radical politician, who was a member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Hertford from 1826 to 1832 and for Finsbury from 1834 until his death. Duncombe was a tireless champion of ra ...

. He served a single term, standing down at the next general election in 1857. On

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1852 Challis was elected by the

Corporation of London The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the municipal governing body of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United King ...

as Lord Mayor of London. He took office on 9 November, although the traditional

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was not held as the City was preparing to hold the

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of the

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister o ...

. He died at his country home in

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, and was buried at

Enfield Chase Enfield Chase is an area of Enfield that is named for a former royal hunting ground. Much of the former area of the Chase has been developed, but a large part survives between Cockfosters in the west and Enfield in the east as Trent Countr ...

Cemetery.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Challis, Thomas 1794 births 1874 deaths Sheriffs of the City of London 19th-century lord mayors of London 19th-century English politicians UK MPs 1852–1857 Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies