Charles Sibthorp

Charles Sibthorp

Portrait of Sibthorp by John Andrews.
Member of Parliament for Lincoln
In office
1835–1856
Member of Parliament for Lincoln
In office
1826–1832
Personal details
Born 14 February 1783
Lincoln, Great Britain
Died 14 December 1855 (aged 73)
London, United Kingdom
Political party Tory/Ultra-Tory
Military service
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service 1803–1822
Rank Lieutenant-Colonel
Unit 4th Dragoon Guards
Scots Greys

Charles de Laet Waldo Sibthorp (14 February 1783 14 December 1855), popularly known as Colonel Sibthorp, was a widely caricatured British Ultra-Tory politician in the early 19th century. He sat as a Member of Parliament for Lincoln from 1826 to 1855 (with one brief break).

Sibthorp was born into a Lincoln gentry family, and was commissioned into the Scots Greys in 1803. He was promoted Lieutenant in 1806 and later transferred to the 4th Dragoon Guards, in which he reached the rank of Captain. He did not serve abroad and continued in the service until 1822, when he succeeded to the family estates and also succeeded his brother as Lieutenant-Colonel of the Royal South Lincolnshire Militia. He married Maria Tottenham in 1812; they had four children.

Member of Parliament

During Sibthorp's three decades in Parliament, he became renowned, along with Sir Robert Inglis, as one of its most reactionary members. He stoutly opposed Catholic Emancipation, the Reform Act of 1832, the repeal of the Corn Laws, and the 1851 Great Exhibition. He was convinced that any changes from the Britain of his youth (in the late 18th century) were signs of degeneracy, that Britain was about to go bankrupt, and that the new railways were a passing fad which would soon give way to a return to stagecoaches.

He was opposed to all foreign influences, and offended Queen Victoria with his public suspicions of Prince Albert, the prince consort. His political views, his bluntness in expressing them, and his eccentricities made him the target of both witticisms and cartoons in Punch.

He was returned to Parliament on eight occasions.

Sibthorp died at his home in London, and was succeeded as MP by his son, Gervaise.

References

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Sibthorp, Charles De Laet Waldo". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. 

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
John Williams
Robert Percy Smith
Member of Parliament for Lincoln
18261832
With: John Fazakerley to 1830
John Fardell 1830–31
George Heneage from 1831
Succeeded by
Edward Lytton Bulwer
George Heneage
Preceded by
George Heneage
Edward Lytton Bulwer
Member of Parliament for Lincoln
1835 – 1856
With: Edward Lytton Bulwer to 1841
William Collett 1841–47
Charles Seely 1847–48
Thomas Hobhouse 1848–52
George Heneage from 1852
Succeeded by
Gervaise Sibthorp
George Heneage
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