Friday 25th September, 2009
Politician
Most Wiganers know Sir Francis Sharp Powell only from his statue in Mesnes Park, near the centre of the town. Generations of children have rubbed its right foot in a belief that good luck will follow.
Many will also have read the brass plaque on the statue's plinth.
It states:
“Sir Francis Sharp Powell Baronet. Born in Wigan 1827. MP for his native town 1857-9 and 1885-1910...”
However, this is only part of the story. Francis Sharp Powell was indeed the town's MP during the years stated, but he was also Conservative MP for Cambridge from 1863 until 1868, and Yorkshire North West Riding from 1872 to 1874. He also unsuccessfully fought elections in Stalybridge (1871) and Manchester (1875).
Altogether, during more than fifty years of political activity, he:
- represented three different constituencies;
- contested thirteen general elections;
- contested six bye elections;
- scored eleven victories and suffered eight defeats.
Francis Sharp Powell first attempted to become an MP in 1852 when he was just 27 years old. He stood in the Wigan constituency but came last of the three candidates, polling 324 votes. This was 42 less than the winner, a Liberal named K.A. Thicknesse.
In 1854, he tried again but once more was unsuccessful, this time by only five votes in a two way contest against a Liberal politician named Joseph Acton.
He finally succeeded in the 1857 election when he polled 493 votes, 46 more than the Liberal candidate, Henry Woods, and 190 more than another Conservative candidate, Col. Hon. J. Lindsay. (It must be noted that at this time Wigan had two Members of Parliament, so Henry Woods was also elected.)
His success, however was short lived. In 1859, the same three candidates again stood. This time Col. Lindsay won, with Francis Sharp Powell coming in third place, 237 votes behind the leader.
In 1863 he was re-elected to Parliament as the Conservative MP for Cambridge, a seat he held until 1868.
His next success was in the Yorkshire, North West Riding constituency in the 1872 election. He held this seat for only two years.
Francis Sharp Powell then decided to return to the town of his birth, Wigan. In the 1881 election he polled 3,003 votes, almost 500 more than his Liberal opponent, J. Lancaster. He seemed destined, once more, to become a Wigan MP.
However, the unthinkable happened: he was accused of corruption. To be more precise, he was accused of bribery.
Between 23rd March and 1st April 1881, a petition was heard at the “...New Borough Court, Wigan to determine ... that the said Francis Sharp Powell...was not duly elected or duly returned, and that the said Election and Return of Francis Sharp Powell were and are wholly null and void.”
The judges found no evidence of corrupt practice by Francis himself, but two of his supporters, Thomas Scott and Edwin McLoughland, were said to have resorted to bribery. Consequently the election was declared “void on petition”.
In 1885, Wigan's representation in Parliament was reduced to one. In the election of that year Francis was successful, and remained Wigan's MP until his retirement in 1910. By this time he was 83 years old and suffering from an incurable deafness which made fulfilling his obligations difficult. He died the following year.
Francis Sharp Powell was a member of the Conservative Party. He does, however, appear to have been quite liberal in some of his views.
He supported “household suffrage” as detailed in the Second Reform Act of 1867. This extended the vote to all householders who paid rates and enfranchised many urban, working-class men. It almost doubled the electorate.
During an unsuccessful campaign to win the Manchester seat in 1875, he asserted his support for the early Trade Union movement. He stated that work people were “fully entitled to combine for their own protection.”
He believed that education should be available to all and was broadly in favour of the far reaching Forster Elementary Education Act of 1870, which paved the way for education for all. He did, however, oppose the clauses in the bill which advocated the abolition of religious education in the new "Board Schools".
These are just three of his many far sighted, broad minded views.
The Statue with the Shiny Foot
Francis Sharp Powell, the Early Years
Francis Sharp Powell, Bradford's Benefactor
Francis Sharp Powell, Wigan's Benefactor