- Samuel Whitbread
- "Samuel Whitbread (1758 –
6 June 1815 ) was an Englishpolitician .Born in
Cardington, Bedfordshire , Whitbread was the son of the brewer Samuel Whitbread. He was educated atEton College ,Christ Church, Oxford andSt John's College, Cambridge , after which he embarked on a European 'Grand Tour', visitingDenmark ,Sweden ,Russia ,Poland ,Prussia ,France andItaly . He returned to England in May 1786 and joined his father's successful brewing business.He was elected
Member of Parliament for Bedford in 1790, a post he held for eight years. Whitbread was a reformer — a champion of religious and civil rights, for the abolition ofslavery , and a proponent of a national education system.Samuel Whitbread Community College in Mid-Bedfordshire, England is named after him.He was a close friend and colleague of John Howard and of
Charles James Fox . After Fox's death, Whitbread took over the leadership of the Whigs, and in 1805 led the campaign to haveHenry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville , removed from office.Whitbread admired
Napoleon and his reforms in France and Europe. He hoped that much that Napoleon reforms would be implemented in Britain itself. Throughout thePeninsular War he played down French defeats convinced that sooner of later Napoleon would triumph and did all he could to bring about a withdrawal of Britain from the continent. When Napoleon abdicated in 1814 he was devastated. Whitbread began to suffer from depression, and on the morning of6 June 1815 , he committedsuicide by cutting his throat with a razor.External links
* [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRwhitbread.htm Samuel Whitbread biography]
Further reading
* Fulford, Roger. "Samuel Whitbread, 1764-1815: A study in opposition," MacMillan, 1967. (ISBN B0000CNFHB)
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