Charles Abbot, 1st Baron Colchester

For other people named Charles Abbot, see Charles Abbot (disambiguation).

The Right Honourable The Lord Colchester PC FRS
200px Lord Colchester by John Hoppner, c. 1802 (Palace of Westminster)
Speaker of the House of Commons
In office 1802–1817
Monarch	George III
Preceded by	Sir John Mitford
Succeeded by	Charles Manners-Sutton
Personal details
Born	14 October 1757 (1757-10-14) Abingdon
Died
Nationality	British
Political party	Tory
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Gibbes (1760–1847)
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford

Charles Abbot, 1st Baron Colchester PC, FRS (14 October 1757 – 8 May 1829) was a British barrister and statesman. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons between 1802 and 1817.

Background and education

Born in Abingdon, Abbot was the son of Dr John Abbot, rector of All Saints, Colchester, and, by his mother's second marriage, step-brother of Jeremy Bentham. From Westminster School he passed to Christ Church, Oxford, at which he gained the chancellor's prize for Latin verse as well as the Vinerian Scholarship. On 14 February 1793, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Legal and political career

In 1795, after having practised twelve years as a barrister, and published a treatise proposing the incorporation of the judicial system of Wales with that of England, he was appointed to the office previously held by his brother of clerk of the rules in the king's bench; and in June of the same year he was elected Member of Parliament for Helston, through the influence of the Duke of Leeds.

In 1796 Abbot commenced his career as a reformer in Parliament by obtaining the appointment of two committees the one to report on the arrangements which then existed as to temporary laws or laws about to expire, the other to devise methods for the better publication of new statutes. To the latter committee, and a second committee which he proposed some years later, it is owing that copies of new statutes were thenceforth sent to all magistrates and municipal bodies.

Abbot's efforts effected the establishment of the Record Commission, the reform of the system which had allowed the public money to lie for some time at long interest in the hands of the public accountants, by charging them with payment of interest, and, most important of all, the act for taking the first census, that of 1801. On the formation of the Addington ministry in March 1801 Abbot became Chief Secretary and Privy Seal for Ireland; and in the February of the following year he was chosen Speaker of the House of Commons, a position that he held with universal satisfaction until 1817, when an attack of erysipelas compelled him to retire. In response to an address of the Commons, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Colchester, of Colchester in the County of Essex, with a pension of £4000, of which £3000 was to be continued to his heir. His speeches against the Roman Catholic claims were published in 1828.

Family

In 1796, he had married, in London, Elizabeth Gibbes (1760–1847), the elder daughter of Sir Philip Gibbes, baronet, of Springhead, Barbados, by whom he had two sons. He was succeeded by his elder son Charles, Postmaster General in 1858, and subsequently by his grandson Reginald Abbot, 3rd Baron Colchester, on whose death in 1919 the title became extinct.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: 
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: 

External links

• Archival material relating to Charles Abbot, 1st Baron Colchester listed at the UK National Archives

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Sir Gilbert Elliot, Bt Stephen Lushington	Member of Parliament for Helston 1795–1800 With: Stephen Lushington 1795–1796 Richard Richards 1796–1799 Lord Francis Osborne 1799–1800	Succeeded by Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Parliament of Great Britain	Member of Parliament for Helston 1801–1802 With: Lord Francis Osborne 1801–1802	Succeeded by Viscount FitzHarris John Penn
Preceded by Sir John Leicester, Bt William Wickham	Member of Parliament for Heytesbury 1802 With: Viscount Kirkwall	Succeeded by Viscount Kirkwall Charles Moore
Preceded by Sir Henry Watkin Dashwood, Bt Charles Moore	Member of Parliament for Woodstock 1802–1806 With: Sir Henry Watkin Dashwood, Bt	Succeeded by Sir Henry Watkin Dashwood, Bt William Eden
Preceded by Sir William Dolben, Bt Sir William Scott	Member of Parliament for Oxford University 1806–1817 With: Sir William Scott	Succeeded by Sir William Scott Robert Peel
Political offices
Preceded by Viscount Castlereagh	Chief Secretary for Ireland 1801–1802	Succeeded by William Wickham
Preceded by Sir John Mitford	Speaker of the House of Commons 1802–1817	Succeeded by Charles Manners-Sutton
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baron Colchester 1817–1829	Succeeded by Charles Abbot