William Wickham (1831 – 16 May 1897) was a Member of Parliament for

Petersfield Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth. The town has its own Petersfield railway station, railway station on the Portsmouth Direct line, the mainline rai ...

, a

High Sheriff of Hampshire This is a list of High Sheriffs of Hampshire. This title was often given as High Sheriff of the County of Southampton until 1959. List of High Sheriffs 11th and 12th centuries 13th century 14th century 15th century 16th century 17th ...

, Chairman of the

Petty sessional division A petty sessional division was, in England and Wales, the area that a magistrates' court had jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to ...

, and served on the

Board of guardians Boards of guardians were ''ad hoc'' authorities that administered Poor Law in the United Kingdom from 1835 to 1930. England and Wales Boards of guardians were created by the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, replacing the parish overseers of the po ...

, being Guardian of West Worldham.

Early years

He was bom in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1831, the eldest son of Henry Lewis Wickham (1789–1864), of Binsted Wyck,

Receiver General A receiver general (or receiver-general) is an officer responsible for accepting payments on behalf of a government, and for making payments to a government on behalf of other parties. See also * Treasurer * Receiver General for Canada * Recei ...

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

. His mother was Lucy, youngest daughter of William Markham, of Becca Hall,

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. He was sixth in descent from Bishop William Wickham,

Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' the offic ...

and

Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of Nort ...

. He was educated at

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It descends from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the Norman Conquest, as do ...

and

New Inn Hall New Inn Hall was one of the earliest medieval halls of the University of Oxford. It was located in New Inn Hall Street, Oxford. History Trilleck's Inn The original building on the site was Trilleck's Inn, a medieval hall or hostel for st ...

. He received a B.A. degree in 1854, and an M.A. degree in 1857 from

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

Career

He was called to the Bar at the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

in 1857, and in 1888–89 was High Sheriff of Hampshire. In 1892, he entered Parliament in the Conservative interest as the representative for Petersfield, succeeding Viscount Wolmer; in 1895 he was returned unopposed. He sat on the Alton Bench, and for nearly 20 years acted as Chairman of the Petty sessional division. He was a member of the Board of Guardians, first as an ''ex officio'' member, and later as Guardian for West Worldham. He served as the

County Councillor A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Australia In the Australian state of New South Wales, county councils are special purpose ...

for the Selborne division. Wickham was a director of the Sun Fire and Life Assurance Company. He was the editor of the ''Correspondence'' (1870) of the Rt. Hon. William Wickham, his grandfather and a

spymaster A spymaster is a leader of a group of spies or an intelligence agency An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, Intelligence analysis, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforce ...

Personal life

Wickham owned a

demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land subinfeudation, sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. ...

at Binsted Wyck, near

Alton Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) * Alton (surname) Places Australia * Alton National Park, Queensland * Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario * Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zeala ...

. He was a Fellow of the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collec ...

. He married Sophia Emma in 1860; they had two daughters. He died in 1897 and was buried in the churchyard at

Binsted Binsted is a village and large civil parish in East Hampshire, England. It is about east of Alton, Hampshire, Alton, its nearest town. The parish is one of the largest in northern Hampshire and covers almost . It contains two villages, Bucks ...

with every demonstration of the affectionate regard and respect in which he was held by all who knew him.

References

* ''This article includes text incorporated from Linnean Society of London's "Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London" (1897), a publication now in the public domain.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Wickham, William 1831 births 1897 deaths Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Councillors in Hampshire Fellows of the Linnean Society of London High sheriffs of Hampshire People educated at Westminster School, London UK MPs 1892–1895 UK MPs 1895–1900