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. The electors of Lincoln however, thought very highly of him. To them he was a man of honesty and independence and they returned him to Parliament on eight occasions.
Sibthorp died at his home in London, and was succeeded as MP by his son, Gervaise.
Read more about this topic: Colonel Sibthorp
Famous quotes containing the words member of, member and/or parliament:
“While waiting to get married, several forms of employment were acceptable. Teaching kindergarten was for those girls who stayed in school four years. The rest were secretaries, typists, file clerks, or receptionists in insurance firms or banks, preferably those owned or run by the family, but respectable enough if the boss was an upstanding Christian member of the community.”
—Barbara Howar (b. 1934)
“For love ... has two faces; one white, the other black; two bodies; one smooth, the other hairy. It has two hands, two feet, two tails, two, indeed, of every member and each one is the exact opposite of the other. Yet, so strictly are they joined together that you cannot separate them.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)
“A Parliament is that to the Commonwealth which the soul is to the body.... It behoves us therefore to keep the facility of that soul from distemper.”
—John Pym (1584–1643)