MELLER, Walter (1818-1886), of Broadlands, Clapham Common, Middlesex

A self-styled Middlesex gentleman, the Conservative Meller offered qualified support for the Derby ministry’s reform scheme, while opposing the disenfranchisement of small boroughs and ‘democracy’ more generally. He came from a family that had been resident in south London since the mid-eighteenth century. His father was a coach maker, part of the firm of Wyburn, Thomas and Meller, who were described as coachmakers to the Queen and the Dowager Queen in an 1841 directory.1London Metropolitan Archives, Christ Church, Southwark, Register of baptisms, P92/CTC, Item 446; Post Office London Directory (1841), pt. 1, 613. It appears from the 1861 census returns that Meller had pursued the same trade.21861 census returns, RG9, 371, f. 63, pp. 37-8, GSU roll 542625. In 1860 it was reported that Meller was a ‘gentleman of large fortune’ who owned freehold property in Southwark ‘of the value of 60,000l.’3The Standard, 29 Nov. 1860. He was later a director of the London and Mediterranean Bank that was established in 1865.4The joint-stock companies directory for 1867 (1867), 377.

In December 1860 Mellor came forward for a vacancy in his native borough of Southwark as a ‘Liberal Conservative’ standing on ‘the constitution of 1688’. He distanced himself from ‘Ultra-Toryism’ and the ‘Manchester school’ and sarcastically noted of John Bright and other Liberals that ‘the boasted friends of the people have ... done little for them’. Meller supported the spread of ‘sound education’ and was not against an extension of the franchise to those qualified by ‘intelligence and a share in the burdens of the state’. A Churchman, he opposed any endowment of the Roman Catholic church.5The Standard, 28 Nov. 1860. However, as his candidature was announced relatively late and the local Conservative party organisation was inadequate, he was persuaded to withdraw. Although he contributed 100 guineas towards resurrecting the local Conservative organisation in Southwark, Meller did not stand again at the 1865 general election.6Morning Post, 6 Dec. 1860. He instead contested the venal borough of Stafford, where he had to face accusations of being a ‘Tory and Protectionist’ and a ‘Carlton nominee’. In response, Meller avowed the principles of ‘progressive Conservatism’, highlighting Lord Derby’s 1859 reform bill and the abolition of the property qualification of MPs as evidence of his party’s reforming credentials. He also criticised Palmerston, who ‘systematically bullies the little powers and yields to the greater’. After a contest against two Liberals he was returned in second place.7The Standard, 12 July 1865.

In his maiden speech condemning the Liberal government’s reform bill, 13 Mar. 1866, Meller argued that this measure was unnecessary, as the House of Commons dealt effectively with any grievances that came to its notice and a quarter of the working class possessed the franchise. He also criticised the lodger franchise as ‘a most democratic and revolutionary measure’ and defended small boroughs.8Hansard, 13 Mar. 1866, vol. 182, cc. 187-8. The tendency of the proposed changes ‘was in a democratic direction, democracy, they knew, led not to liberty, but to its very opposite’. He ended by referring to the bill as a Trojan horse for democracy, quoting Virgil’s Aeneid: ‘Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes’ (I fear the Greeks, even those bearing gifts).9Ibid., 188. Meller accordingly divided in favour of Earl Grosvenor’s amendment that the bill be accompanied by redistribution and Lord Dunkellin’s amendment for a rateable franchise, 27 Apr. 1866, 18 June 1866. In the same session, Meller proposed a select committee to investigate the feasibility of constructing a harbour of refuge at Newhaven, but he withdrew it after government opposition.10Hansard, 12 June 1866, vol. 184, cc. 296-8. In the divisions on the representation of the people bill in 1867, Meller opposed the disenfranchisement of small boroughs, the enfranchisement of lodgers, urban copyholders and leaseholders, but supported cumulative voting and the minority clause. He disliked the lodger franchise because it ‘departed from the principle that personal payments of rates should be the only avenue of the borough franchise’, 17 May 1867.11Hansard, 17 May 1867, vol. 187, c. 699. However, he was critical of his government’s registration bill of 1868, which he thought would cause great ‘dissatisfaction’. Having finally passed a reform bill after nearly two years’ worth of debate, there was a real danger that new electors would be unable to vote due to the inadequacies of the registration system.12Hansard, 2 July 1868, vol. 193, c. 565. In the same year, Meller voiced approval of extending tramlines in London, as ‘a very cheap and desirable mode of conveyance’.13Hansard, 5 Mar. 1868, vol. 190, cc. 111-12 (at 1112).

Meller was re-elected for Stafford at the 1868 general election, but unseated on petition for bribery in 1869 and did not seek a return to Parliament.14Pall Mall Gazette, 14 May 1869. In the same year he withdrew from the coach-making partnership, which continued to trade as Wyburn and Company, 121 Long Acre.15London Gazette, 13 Aug. 1869. On his death in January 1886 his personal estate was sworn at £45,129 6s. 10d., and resworn the following March as £45,984 6s. 10d.16Calendar of Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration (1886), 229. He was succeeded by his only son Walter Clifford Meller (1848-1925), an author who was made a papal count and knight by Pope Leo XIII.17The Times, 14 Oct. 1925; Marquis de Ruvigny ed., The nobilities of Europe (1909), 227-8.