Harvey Christian Combe
Harvey Christian Combe (1752 – 4 July 1818)[1] was an English Whig[2] politician. He was the eldest surviving son of Harvey Combe, attorney, of Andover, Hampshire.
He was elected an Alderman of London in 1790 and Lord Mayor of London in 1799. He was appointed Sheriff of London for 1791–92. At the 1796 general election he was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the City of London.[2]
Combe was present in the House of Commons when the then Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval, was assassinated in the lobby on 11 May 1812. He chaired a makeshift court convened the same day composed of MPs who were, like himself, also magistrates in order to begin committal proceedings against the murderer, John Bellingham, take witness statements and order messengers to search Bellingham's lodgings.[3][4] Bellingham was ultimately hanged.
He held the seat for 21 years,[1] until he resigned from the House of Commons in 1817 by taking the Chiltern Hundreds.[5]
He died the following year, aged about 66.[1] He had married his cousin Alice Christian, the daughter of Boyce Tree, corn factor, of London, with whom he had four sons and six daughters. By 1806 he was an incredibly wealthy man, a fortune he made in the brewing industry. He was a partner in the Combe Delafield and Co. brewery. In 1806 he bought Cobham Park in Surrey where he lived until his death. He built Cobham Park into a substantial country estate which upon his death was left to his son Harvey Combe junior. The estate still belongs to the Combe family.
References
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 3)
- Stooks Smith, Henry (1973) [1844-1850]. Craig, F. W. S. (ed.). The Parliaments of England (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 210–211. ISBN 0-900178-13-2.
- Hanrahan, David C. (2012). The Assassination of the Prime Minister: John Bellingham and Spencer Perceval. The History Press (London). pp. 14–15. ISBN 978-0-7509-4401-4.
- Linklater, Andro (2013). Why Spencer Perceval Had to Die: The Assassination of a British Prime Minister. Bloomsbury Publishing (London). pp. 20–21. ISBN 978-1-4088-3171-7.
- "No. 17259". The London Gazette. 14 June 1817. p. 1339.
Notes
- "COMBE, Harvey Christian (1752-1818), of Cross Street, London and Cobham Park, Surr". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Harvey Combe
| Parliament of Great Britain | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir Watkin Lewes Sir John Anderson, Bt William Lushington Sir William Curtis, Bt |
Member of Parliament for the City of London 1796–1800 With: Sir John Anderson, Bt William Lushington Sir William Curtis, Bt |
Succeeded by Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by Parliament of Great Britain |
Member of Parliament for the City of London 1801–1817 With: Sir William Curtis, Bt to 1818 Sir John Anderson, Bt to 1806 William Lushington to 1802 Sir Charles Price, Bt 1802–12 Sir James Shaw, Bt 1806–18 John Atkins 1812–18 |
Succeeded by Sir Matthew Wood Sir William Curtis, Bt Sir James Shaw, Bt John Atkins |
| Civic offices | ||
| Preceded by Sir Richard Glyn |
Lord Mayor of London 1799–1800 |
Succeeded by Sir William Staines |