Thomas Perronet Thompson (15 March 1783 – 6 September 1869) was a British Parliamentarian, a governor of

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

and a radical reformer. He became prominent in 1830s and 1840s as a leading activist in the Anti-Corn Law League. He specialized in the grass-roots mobilisation of opinion through pamphlets, newspaper articles, correspondence, speeches, and local planning meetings.

Biography

Thompson was born in

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually shortened to Hull, is a historic maritime city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Est ...

in March 1783. He was son of Thomas Thompson, a banker of Hull and his wife, Philothea Perronet Briggs. The name Perronet was from his mother's grandfather, Vincent Perronet, vicar of Shoreham and a friend of

John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

and his brother

Charles Wesley Charles Wesley (18 December 1707 – 29 March 1788) was an English Anglican cleric and a principal leader of the Methodist movement. Wesley was a prolific hymnwriter who wrote over 6,500 hymns during his lifetime. His works include "And Can It ...

. He was educated at Hull Grammar School. He was a cousin of

Henry Perronet Briggs Henry Perronet Briggs Royal Academy of Arts, RA (1793 – 18 January 1844) was an English painter of portraits and historical scenes. Life Briggs was born at Walworth, the son of John Hobart Briggs, a post office official and Mary nee Oldham. ...

. He graduated from

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the 16 "old colleges" of the university, and was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. Its buildings span the R ...

in 1802 with the rank of seventh Wrangler. From 1803, Thompson served as a

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Cana ...

in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, switching to the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

(as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

) in 1806. Thompson became

Governor of Sierra Leone This is a list of colonial administrators in Sierra Leone from the establishment of the Cline Town, Sierra Leone, Province of Freedom Colony by the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor which lasted between 1787 and 1789 and the list of colon ...

between August 1808 and June 1810, due in part to his acquaintance with

William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 1759 – 29 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to abolish the Atlantic slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780 ...

. He was recalled from the job after complaining about the system by which "freed" slaves were compulsorily "apprenticed" for fourteen years. He wrote that Wilberforce and the

Sierra Leone Company The Sierra Leone Company was the corporate body involved in founding the Freetown, second British colony in Africa on 11 March 1792 through the resettlement of Black Loyalists who had initially been settled in Nova Scotia (the Nova Scotian Settler ...

had "by means of their agents become slave traders themselves". He threatened to expose this situation, so he was sacked, with Wilberforce himself agreeing to the dismissal. In 1812, Thompson returned to his military duties, and, after serving in the south of France, was in 1815 attached as

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

interpreter to an expedition against the Wahabees of the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

, with whom he negotiated a treaty (dated January 1820) in which the slave trade was for the first time declared

piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

. Whilst in the Army, Thompson was promoted to

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

in 1825, lieutenant colonel in 1829 and in later years was made a major general. While serving in the Army in India, his second son, Charles, was born at

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

. As a radical reformer, Thompson wrote the ''True Theory of Rent'' and ''A Catechism on the

Corn Laws The Corn Laws were tariffs and other trade restrictions on imported food and corn enforced in the United Kingdom between 1815 and 1846. The word ''corn'' in British English denotes all cereal grains, including wheat, oats and barley. The la ...

''. He also joint-owned the ''

Westminster Review The ''Westminster Review'' was a quarterly United Kingdom, British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the libe ...

'' for a time. He wrote several articles in the journal supporting

universal suffrage Universal suffrage or universal franchise ensures the right to vote for as many people bound by a government's laws as possible, as supported by the " one person, one vote" principle. For many, the term universal suffrage assumes the exclusion ...

, and his articles were republished in 1842 in six volumes. Thompson represented

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 1835 to 1837 and was elected to represent

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

between 1847 and 1852, and again from 1857 to 1859. Thompson died in September 1869 aged 86. Monuments to his second son General Charles William Thompson, his youngest son Lieutenant Colonel John Wycliffe Thompson, who served in the Crimean War, and his youngest daughter Anne Elise are in the chancel of St Mary's Church, Cottingham, near Hull.

Personal life

Thompson married Anne Elizabeth ancyBarker; they had three sons, Thomas Perronet Edward, Charles William, and John Wycliffe. Thompson's family also included his granddaughters, the historian Edith Thompson, and Elizabeth Thompson, who were both prolific contributors to the

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

. Thompson was interested in music, writing books on harmony and just intonation e.g. for the

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

(''Instructions to my daughter for playing on the enharmonic guitar''). His mathematical publications were somewhat eccentric. He published a ''Theory of Parallels'' in 1844, and was also the author of ''Geometry without Axioms'', in which he endeavoured to "get rid of"

axiom An axiom, postulate, or assumption is a statement that is taken to be true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments. The word comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning 'that which is thought worthy or ...

s. Thompson was teetotal and a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

.Gregory, James. (2002)
"The Vegetarian Movement in Britain c. 1840-1901"
eprints.soton.ac.uk. Retrieved 1 October 2022.

Notes

References

* *

External links

*
Information on Thomas Perronet Thompson, pub. 1840
(Saunders' portraits and memoirs of eminent living political reformers ...; by John Saunders; 1840)
Information
(

Hull City Council Hull City Council, or Kingston upon Hull City Council, is the local authority for the city of Kingston upon Hull (generally known as Hull) in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Hull has had a council since 1299, whic ...

)
Thomas Perronet Thompson

Thomas Perronet Thompson letters

John Rylands Library The John Rylands Research Institute and Library is a Victorian era, late-Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, neo-Gothic building on Deansgate in Manchester, England. It is part of the University of Manchester. The library, which opened to t ...

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

. ;Images
Image from a painting by B. E. Duppa

Image of Thomas Perronet Thompson
(Royal Academy of Music) ;Writings
Google booksArchive.orgPapers of Thomas Perronet Thompson (1783 - 1869)
(Hull University Archives)

(University of Leeds)
Papers of Thomas Perronet Thompson relating to Sierra Leone
(British Online Archives) {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Thomas Perronet 1783 births 1869 deaths Politicians from Kingston upon Hull Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge People educated at Hull Grammar School Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1835–1837 UK MPs 1847–1852 Governors of Sierra Leone Royal Navy officers British Army major generals Fellows of the Royal Society Rifle Brigade officers 14th King's Hussars officers 17th Lancers officers British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars 65th Regiment of Foot officers People from Cottingham, East Riding of Yorkshire Fellows of Queens' College, Cambridge

Biography

Personal life

Notes

References

Further reading

External links