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

  1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 3)
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  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.
  5. "No. 17259". The London Gazette. 14 June 1817. p. 1339.

Notes

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


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