Correspondence of Thomas Perronet Thompson, members of his family, and other persons

The archive also includes related manuscript and printed material

General Thomas Perronet Thompson (1783-1869) was a politician and reformer. His father was Thomas Thompson, a merchant and banker of Hull. His mother, Philothea Perronet Briggs, was related to Vincent Perronet, a Methodist and close friend of John Wesley. Thomas Perronet Thompson served both in the navy and the army, and was in 1808 the first governor of Sierra Leone. On his return to England in 1822 he turned to politics and supported the Anti-Corn-Law League and free trade. His interests were extremely wide, including natural history, geometry, and music, as well as politics and economics. For seven years he owned the Westminster Review. At the Great Exhibition of 1851 he showed an enharmonic organ constructed according to his musical theories. In June 1836 he entered Parliament as the member for Hull and only finally gave up his seat in 1859 after fighting for his policies whether in or out of Parliament. He married Anne Elizabeth [Nancy] Barker from York and had three sons and a daughter, all of whom had distinguished careers

Access is unrestricted

The gift of Mrs L.G. Johnson, 1970

In English

Contents listed in Handlist 8 and in the Letters database http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/spcoll/letters/letintro.htm

See also MSS 277, 823

The archive was used by L.G. Johnson for his biography, General T. Perronet Thompson, London, 1957