John Erle-Drax

John Samuel Wanley Sawbridge Erle-Drax (born Sawbridge; 6 October 1800 – 5 January 1887) was a British Member of Parliament (MP) during the Victorian era.

John Erle-Drax
Member of Parliament for Wareham
In office 1841–1857
Preceded by	John Hales Calcraft
Succeeded by	John Hales Calcraft
In office 1859–1865
Preceded by	John Hales Calcraft
Succeeded by	John Calcraft
In office 1868–1880
Preceded by	John Calcraft
Succeeded by	Montague Guest
Personal details
Born	6 October 1800 Blackmore Vale
Died	5 January 1887 (aged 86)
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative (Tory)
Spouse(s)	Jane Frances Erle-Drax Grosvenor
Occupation	Politician

Olantigh House after the fire of 1903, with equestrian statue of John Erle-Drax

Personal life

Born John Sawbridge, he was the son of Samuel Elias Sawbridge, of Olantigh in Kent, and grandson of John Sawbridge, Lord Mayor of London in 1775.[1] John married Jane Frances Erle-Drax-Grosvenor, daughter of Richard Erle-Drax-Grosvenor, in 1827. On 13 August 1828, his wife's brother Richard Erle-Drax-Grosvenor died unmarried, and he succeeded to her family estates, including Charborough House, assuming the surname of Erle-Drax.[2]

He was a captain in the East Kent Militia, and raised a troop of the Dorsetshire Yeomanry in 1830 to deal with the Disturbances or Swing Riots of that year;[3][4] he held the patronage of five church livings, and was a deputy-lieutenant of Dorset in the late 1850s.[5]

Erle-Drax built his mausoleum, located beside Holnest church in the Blackmore Vale in Dorset, fifteen years before his death. He included in the Byzantine-style design a letter box, through which he arranged to have The Times delivered daily. He died on 5 January 1887, at which time the date was added to the epitaph. The mausoleum was demolished in 1935 and replaced by a flat memorial stone.[6]

Parliament

After serving a term as High Sheriff of Dorset in 1840[7] Erle-Drax was the Conservative (Tory) Member of Parliament for Wareham for three periods between 1841 and 1880.[8] Wareham was a pocket borough with just 342 electors, controlled jointly by Erle-Drax and John Hales Calcraft, who arranged for one or the other of them to be returned at each election.[5] Immediately prior to the opening of the polls at one election, he made the following statement to the electors of Wareham: "I understand that some evil-disposed person has been circulating a report that I wish my tenants, and other persons dependent upon me, to vote according to their conscience. This is a dastardly lie, calculated to injure me. I have no wish of the sort. I wish, and intend, that these people should vote for me."[9]

During his tenure in the House of Commons, Erle-Drax was known as the "Silent MP". He made only one known statement in the House, which was a request that the Speaker of the House have a window opened.[6]

Erle-Drax's descendant, Richard Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, was elected as Member of Parliament[6] for South Dorset in the 2010 United Kingdom general election using the 'truncated' name Richard Drax.[10] During the 2010 United Kingdom general election campaign period, the Daily Mirror reported that Richard Drax's family had earned their fortune through slavery. Drax's response questioned his responsibility for "something that happened 300 or 400 years ago", stating "it's not what I stand for", and cited the desperation of his opponents- "all they can do is pick at bits of my family history". In 2013, the BBC noted that his ancestor John Erle-Drax, who had an estate in Barbados,[11] was recorded in a database created by University College London as having received £4,293 12s 6d in compensation for 189 slaves when slavery was abolished.[12]

Wimbledon Common

Erle-Drax is reported to have been responsible for the destruction, in 1875, of the remains of an Iron Age fort on Wimbledon Common.[13]

References

Footnotes

1. Burke, p. 211
2. Burke, pp. 207–209
3. Burke 1838, p. 207
4. Burke, p. 207
5. Richardson, p. 47
6. Legg, Rodney (11 December 2009). "The Silent MP". Times Online. Retrieved 31 December 2009.
7. "No. 19819". The London Gazette. 31 January 1840. pp. 197–198.
8. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
9. Fraser, p. 263
10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 May 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
11. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2246
12. "Ancestors of Dorset MP Richard Drax on slavery database". BBC News. BBC. 27 February 2013. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
13. "Wimbledon's worst vandalism". Wimbledon Times. 13 April 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2019.

Sources

• Burke, John (1838). A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, enjoying territorial possessions or high official rank: but uninvested with heritable honours, Volume 4 (1838 ed.). Henry Colburn.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link) - Total pages: 811
• Fraser, William (1891). Disraeli and his day. Kegan Paul.
• Richardson, R. J. (1859). The lower house, or, the peers and aristocracy: being a complete key to the House of Commons. Vickers. JSTOR 60202447.
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by John Samuel Wanley Sawbridge Erle-Drax

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by John Erle-Drax