BLACKWELL, Samuel (d.1785), of Williamstrip Park and Ampney Crucis, Glos.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754-1790, ed. L. Namier, J. Brooke., 1964
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1774 - 30 Apr. 1785

Family and Education

m. 21 Nov. 17591 or 15 Jan. 1760,2 Anne, da. of James Lennox Dutton of Sherborne, Glos., sis. of James Dutton; issue, including one da. who m. W. H. Hartley.

Offices Held

Biography

By the time Blackwell entered Parliament he had an established position in Gloucestershire. He was connected by marriage with the Duttons of Sherborne and the Masters of Cirencester, both old county families; since 1763 had commanded the Gloucestershire militia; and owned considerable property in the county.

His purchase of Ampney Crucis in 1765 gave him an interest at Cirencester. In 1768, standing against the Bathurst interest, he was defeated, but succeeded in 1774; and in 1780 and 1784 was returned without a contest.

Blackwell supported North’s Administration to the end; voted for Shelburne’s peace preliminaries, 18 Feb. 1783; and did not vote on Fox’s East India bill. In Robinson’s list of January 1784 he is classed as ‘very hopeful’; but was included among the Opposition both by Stockdale, March 1784, and William Adam, May 1784. There is no record of his having spoken in the House, and hardly a reference to him in contemporary political correspondence.

Blackwell died 30 Apr. 1785.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: John Brooke

Notes

  • 1. Gent. Mag. 1759, p. 550.
  • 2. Ibid. 1760, p. 46.