Constituency | Dates |
---|---|
Boston | 1802 – 1818, 1818 – 20 |
Chippenham | 1820 – 1826 |
Dir. Hope Insurance Co. 1811 – 14.
Chamberlain to Queen Caroline 1820 – 21.
A member of a well-established Denbighshire family, Madocks directed his considerable energies towards the extraordinary engineering projects that became known as ‘the Wonder of Wales’. During this period, despite financial problems and poor health, he sought to exploit the area of land between Caernarvonshire and Merionethshire which he had enclosed from the sea, and where he had founded Tremadoc, by the establishment of a harbour at Porthmadog to export slate from the interior.Cambrian, 19 Feb. 1820; PROB 11/1636/626; IR26/833/1066; Beazley, 213." style="color:red;" class="drupal_footnote Thomas Love Peacock, who accused him of ‘complicated villainy and lying’ after he refused to return some books belonging to Percy Byshe Shelley that had been left in his safekeeping as collateral for a debt, informed his fellow poet, 28 Feb. 1822, that Madocks was
determined to stand an action, with which he has been menaced, thinking perhaps that I shall not be willing to incur so great an expense; more especially as he is insolvent, and all the expenses would thereupon fall upon me, whether I should gain or lose the cause.Lincoln, Rutland and Stamford Mercury, 10 Mar.; Devizes Gazette, 23 Mar. 1820; Beazley, 209." style="color:red;" class="drupal_footnote Formerly a man of sound radical credentials - Charles James Fox and the 11th duke of Norfolk were once ‘great private and political friends’ - by 1820 he had largely drifted into obscurity.Shrewsbury Chron. 20 Oct. 1820." style="color:red;" class="drupal_footnote he came under local pressure to do so, and relented on the grounds that it was couched in respectful language and was such that ‘any friend of the House of Brunswick’ might safely sign. In a published letter he wrote that he was afraid that
whenever Members of Parliament become the slavish tools of power, whenever they cease to hold connection with the people and feel no interest in public liberty ... what you dread will really take place, namely the downfall of the greatness of your country; but on the other hand, if the representatives of the people respect and observe the sacred principles of the constitution, if they keep a vigilant eye on the public expenditure and maintain a constant jealousy of power, if they control extravagance, promote economy and keep down taxation, the confidence of the people in their rulers will then place our envied institutions on a rock, where they will long survive the storms and shocks which corrupt and arbitrary governments periodically suffer.Hereford Jnl. 10, 24 Jan.; NLW, Maybery mss 6545, Wood to Jones, 17 Jan. 1821." style="color:red;" class="drupal_footnote He voted to restore Caroline’s name to the liturgy, 26 Jan., 13 Feb., and in condemnation of ministers’ conduct towards her, 6 Feb. His appointment as her chamberlain drew the scorn of Lady Williams Wynn, who observed that it was ‘certainly making one step towards having a brilliant Court’.Trans. Caern. Hist. Soc. xliii (1982), 125-8." style="color:red;" class="drupal_footnote It was in pursuance of his own concerns, however, that he was most active. His petition for a bill to allow the construction of Porthmadog harbour was presented, 2 Feb., and was supported by other Welsh Members. It survived technical problems, local opposition from the guardians of the young Lord Newborough, and Lords’ amendments, to be given royal assent, 15 June.The Times, 4, 5 Apr. 1821." style="color:red;" class="drupal_footnote He divided in favour of inquiry into Peterloo, 16 May 1821.
Having crossed to Le Havre in September 1821, Lord Palmerston* informed his sister that
our party was not very large but somewhat comical. The principal personages were Bob Heathcote without his Columbine, and William Madocks with a portly dame who passed among the passengers for Lady Madocks but who was better qualified for Falstaff than Columbine. But both Heathcote and Madocks are entertaining people.CJ, lxxx. 74; lxxxi. 36, 143, 159, 226, 248; Beazley, 217-22; J.I.C. Boyd, Ffestiniog Railway, i. 15-22. See CAERNARVONSHIRE." style="color:red;" class="drupal_footnote
In May 1824 there was a possibility that about 20 properties in Chippenham, a burgage borough, might have been sold to Madocks by Guy for £14,000, but they were purchased instead by the Maitlands, who thereby gained a controlling interest.Devizes Gazette, 22 Sept. 1825; NLW mss 20575B, f. 12." style="color:red;" class="drupal_footnote In September 1825, anticipating a dissolution, he briefly canvassed East Retford, and issued an address in favour of free trade and independence. Surprisingly, he came forward with the support of the duke of Newcastle as an opponent of Catholic relief, for which he had formerly voted. Yet he almost immediately withdrew, apparently in disgust at having failed to gain a single promise, and was ridiculed as a ‘Mad Ox’ and pilloried for his reluctance to re-enter the fray.Oxford DNB." style="color:red;" class="drupal_footnote A limited administration was granted in May 1834, but without a valuation, and it is doubtful that he left much of an estate.Peds. of Anglesey and Caern. Fams. 315." style="color:red;" class="drupal_footnote