Thomas Gilbert | |
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| Born | 1720  |
| Died | 18 December 1798 (aged 77–78) |
Thomas Gilbert (c. 1719 – 18 December 1798) was a British lawyer, soldier, land agent and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1773 to 1794. As one of the earliest advocates of poor relief, he played a major part in the Relief of the Poor Act 1782.
Gilbert was the son of Thomas Gilbert of Cotton, Staffordshire. He entered Inner Temple in 1740 and was called to the bar in 1744. In 1745 he accepted a position in the regiment created by Lord Gower, the brother-in-law of the Duke of Bridgewater. His first wife was named Miss Phillips whom he married between December 1761 and January 1762. When he married her he bought her a lottery ticket, and she won one of the largest prizes in the country. She died on 22 April 1770 and he married secondly to Mary Crauford daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel George Crauford. [1]
Gilbert was a Member of Parliament for Newcastle-under-Lyme from 1763 to 1768 and for Lichfield from 1768 to 1795. He held many titles throughout his career in parliament and was a very active member. In 1765 the title Sinecure Place of Comptroller of the Great Wardrobe was given to him, and he kept it until it was eliminated by Burke's bill which reformed the civil list. Gilbert also held the long named office of Paymaster of the Fund for Securing Pensions to the Widows of Officers in the Navy. On 31 May 1784 he received his most important post, the Chairmanship of Committees of Ways and Means. Although he became the chairman of these offices, his passion was helping the poor. He dedicated the majority of his life's work to aiding the less fortunate. In 1765 he brought to the House of Commons a bill that would group parishes for poor-law purposes in greatly populated districts, but it was rejected in the House of Lords by 66 votes to 59. In 1778, while Britain was still at war with the American colonies, he proposed to parliament a tax of twenty-five per cent should be enforced upon all government places and pensions. Many people were against a tax this high and called it absurd but it was still carried in the committee but later turned down.
Gilbert then turned his attention to improved highways, but was only able to pass acts for local roads. In 1776 a committee of the House of Commons wrote a report on conditions in factories and workhouses. During the 1780s there was an increase in unemployment which was attributed to an increase in food prices, low wages, and a decrease in available land. These factors led to an increase in the poor population and wealthy landowners turned to Gilbert. In 1782, his name was given to the Relief of the Poor Act 1782
In 1787 Gilbert introduced another bill related to poor relief. It proposed grouping many parishes together, for tax purposes, and imposing an additional charge for the use of turnpikes on Sundays. He also advocated the abolition of ale-houses in the country districts, except for the use of travellers, and their stricter supervision. He also wished to do away with imprisonment for small debts, implemented by a bill passed in 1793.
Gilbert died at Cotton in Staffordshire on 18 December 1798. His friend John Holliday printed anonymously a monody on his death, praising his generosity in building and endowing in 1795 the chapel of ease of St. John the Baptist at Lower Cotton. Gilbert and his first wife had two sons, one joined the navy and the other became a clerk to the privy council.
The 18th century lasted from 1 January 1701 to 31 December 1800 (MDCCC). During the 18th century, elements of Enlightenment thinking culminated in the Atlantic Revolutions. Revolutions began to challenge the legitimacy of monarchical and aristocratic power structures. The Industrial Revolution began during mid-century, leading to radical changes in human society and the environment. The European colonization of the Americas and other parts of the world intensified and associated mass migrations of people grew in size as part of the Age of Sail. During the century, slave trading expanded across the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, while declining in Russia and China.
William Petty Fitzmaurice, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, known as the Earl of Shelburne between 1761 and 1784, by which title he is generally known to history, was an Anglo-Irish Whig statesman who was the first home secretary in 1782 and then prime minister in 1782–83 during the final months of the American War of Independence. He succeeded in securing peace with America and this feat remains his most notable legacy.
John Dunning, 1st Baron Ashburton, of Spitchwick the parish of Widecombe-in-the-Moor, Devon, was an English lawyer and politician, born in Ashburton in Devon, who served as Solicitor-General from 1768. He was first noticed in English politics when he wrote a notice in 1762 defending the British East India Company merchants against their Dutch rivals. He was a member of parliament from 1768 onward. His career in the House of Commons is best known for his motion in 1780 that "the influence of the crown has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished". He was created Baron Ashburton in 1782.
This article presents a timeline of events in the history of the United Kingdom from 1700 AD until 1799 AD. For a narrative explaining the overall developments, see the related history of the British Isles.
William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland, PC (Ire), FRS was a British diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1774 to 1793.
The Relief of the Poor Act 1782, also known as Gilbert's Act, was a British poor relief law proposed by Thomas Gilbert which aimed to organise poor relief on a county basis, counties being organised into parishes which could set up poorhouses or workhouses between them. However, these workhouses were intended to help only the elderly, sick and orphaned, not the able-bodied poor. The sick, elderly and infirm were cared for in poorhouses whereas the able-bodied poor were provided with poor relief in their own homes. Gilbert's Act aimed to be more humane than the previous modification to the Poor Law, the Workhouse Test Act. During the 1780s, there was an increase in unemployment and underemployment due to high food prices, low wages and the effects of enclosing land. This caused poor rates to increase rapidly, which wealthy landowners found unacceptable.
Sir Walter Wagstaffe Bagot, 5th Baronet of Blithfield Hall, Staffordshire was an English Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1724 and 1768.
William Bagot, 1st Baron Bagot, known as Sir William Bagot, 6th Baronet, from 1768 to 1780, was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1754 to 1780. He was then raised to the peerage as Baron Bagot.
The Irish Patriot Party was the name of a number of different political groupings in Ireland throughout the 18th century. They were primarily supportive of Whig concepts of personal liberty combined with an Irish identity that rejected full independence, but advocated strong self-government within the British Empire.
Sir Richard Worsley, 7th Baronet,, of Appuldurcombe House, Wroxall, Isle of Wight, was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1774 and 1801. He was a noted collector of antiquities.
Cotton is a village and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. It is about 5 miles (8.0 km) north-east of Cheadle.
The Rt. Hon. John Staples, M.P., was an Irish Member of Parliament from 1765 to 1802.
Lucius Ferdinand Cary, Master of Falkland (1735–1780) was a British Army officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1774 to 1780.
Thomas Bugge was a Danish astronomer, mathematician and surveyor. He succeeded Christian Horrebow as professor of astronomy at the University of Copenhagen in 1777. His triangulation surveys of Denmark carried out under the auspices of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences were instrumental in creating the first precise maps of Denmark. He served as president of the Royal Danish Society for Agriculture (1773–1783), director of the General Widows' Pension Fund (1782–), secretary of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences (1801–1815) and three one-year terms as rector of the University of Copenhagen.
A study of Thomas Gilbert (and his younger brother John) is in Agents of Revolution, written by Peter Lead and published by the Centre for Local History, University of Keele in 1989. ( ISBN 0-9513713-1-2 )
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