BIGGS, William (1805-1881), of Highfield House, Leicester, Leicestershire

One of the Radical hosiers who dominated Leicester’s political life, Biggs promoted education and political reform during his parliamentary career, but remained hostile to state intervention in his trade. His father, John Biggs the elder (d. 1827), was originally from Warwickshire, but had set up in the Leicester hosiery trade by the late eighteenth century, and from modest origins, the firm had become ‘one of the largest in the town’ by the time of his death.1R.H. Evans, ‘The Biggs family of Leicester’, Transactions of the Leicester Archaeological and Historical Society, xlviii (1972-73), 29-58 (at 31); A. Temple Patterson, Radical Leicester: a history of Leicester, 1780-1850 (1954), 181-82. His sons, who were all Unitarians, continued the family firm of J. Biggs and Sons, and became prominent figures in local politics, firstly through opposition to the Tory corporation, and then as leading figures in the town council which replaced it, with William and his elder brother John among the first councillors elected in 1835.2Evans, ‘Biggs family’, 31-37; idem, ‘Biggs, William (1805-1881)’, www.oxforddnb.com; G. Searson, The Leicester Municipal, Borough, and County Poll Book (1883), 19-20; Temple Patterson, Radical Leicester, 214, 216-17. A ruthless electioneer, dubbed ‘the general’ by his supporters, Biggs masterminded the Reformers’ recapture of both of Leicester’s parliamentary seats at the 1837 general election, in a campaign noted for the intimidation of opponents by night patrols, which bordered on the paramilitary, as well as wholesale bribery.3Evans, ‘Biggs family’, 38; Temple Patterson, Radical Leicester, 233-35. Shortly after, in another telling call to arms, Biggs declared, ‘give me the party who will tend to the registration, and I will answer for the result at an election’.4Leicestershire Mercury, 5 Aug. 1837, qu. in P. Radice, ‘Identification, interests and influence: voting behaviour in four English constituencies in the decade after the Great Reform Act’, University of Durham PhD Thesis (1992), 266.

Unlike his older brother John, whose focus of political activity was always Leicester, Biggs sought to advance the cause of reform more widely. His ‘Midland Counties Charter’ of 1842 aimed to unite middle-class and working-class radicals behind a common programme.5Northern Star, 22 Jan. 1842; Temple Patterson, Radical Leicester, 326-27. Its impact was negligible, partly, perhaps, because of William’s didactic speaking style; he lacked the popular touch of his elder brother.6Temple Patterson, Radical Leicester, 182, 312-15. One of the leading supporters of the Anti-Corn Law League in the Midlands, Biggs also strongly backed the campaign for a national system of secular education, led by Cobden and the Lancashire Public Schools Association and, from 1850, the National Public School Association.7Manchester Times, 22 Jan. 1842, 30 July 1842, 25 Jan. 1845, 3 July 1846, 15 Dec. 1849, 1 June 1850; G. Searle, Entrepreneurial politics in mid-Victorian Britain (1993), 246-49. He was also active in the National Parliamentary and Financial Reform Association founded in 1848.8Daily News, 22 Dec. 1849, 25 Apr. 1850; Leeds Mercury, 6 Dec. 1851.

In February 1852 he accepted a request ‘by a large number of electors’ that he stand against the Conservative incumbents at Newport, Isle of Wight, at the next general election.9Daily News, 1 Mar. 1852. Describing himself as a ‘thorough Free Trader’, Biggs expressed support for the ballot, a ‘wide extension’ of the suffrage, the separation of church and state, and putting the foreign office ‘under popular control’ to prevent ‘useless and mischievous’ treaties.10Hampshire Telegraph, 27 Mar. 1852, 22 May 1852. His lack of local credentials alarmed some, causing the candidate to remark that ‘it had been asked who he was, as though he came from a foreign country, or … was some strange animal or curious fossil’.11Hampshire Telegraph, 10 July 1852. After a characteristically well-organised campaign, Biggs topped the poll at the general election in July.12McCalmont’s parliamentary poll book, ed. J. Vincent and M. Stenton (8th edn., 1972), 212. During his time as MP he instituted annual meetings with constituents, held each January, when he would give an account of his parliamentary conduct and answer questions.13Hampshire Telegraph, 19 Jan. 1854, 22 Jan. 1855, 23 Feb. 1856.

An average attender, Biggs gave general support to Gladstone’s financial policy, but cast votes in favour of political reforms such as the ballot.14House of Commons Divisions Lists, 1852-53 session, 27 Nov. 1852, 16 Dec. 1852, 2 May 1853, 14 June 1853; ibid., 1854 session, 13 June 1854. Although he divided with the majority on Roebuck’s motion which brought down Aberdeen’s coalition, 29 Jan. 1855, he supported Palmerston’s government against further criticism over the Crimean War.15Ibid., 1854-55 session, 29 Jan. 1855, 25 May 1855, 19 July 1855. Biggs opposed the repeated attempts of Sir Henry Halford to introduce legislation to improve the condition of the framework knitters by regulating the hosiery industry, insisting that it would either prove ‘utterly useless’ or actually harmful to trade.16Hansard, 4 May 1853, vol. 126, cc. 1090-93 (at 1090); ibid., 8 Mar. 1855, vol. 137, cc. 258-60; PP 1854-55 (421), xiv. 5, 15. Demanding that more money be granted to education, Biggs complained that ‘religious bigotry’ prevented the establishment of a national system of secular education.17Hansard, 30 June 1854, vol. 134, cc. 979-80. Controversially, he commented that parents who failed to educate their children should be imprisoned.18Ibid., c. 980. In 1855, he seconded Walmsley’s motion that the British Museum and other public institutions be opened on Sundays, believing that it would improve popular education and morals, which attracted the criticism of those of his constituents inclined to Sabbatarianism.19Hansard, 20 Mar. 1855, vol. 137, cc. 919-20; Hampshire Telegraph, 2, 23 Feb. 1856.

Viewing Turkey as ‘nothing more than a barbarous and warlike nation’, Biggs pressed ministers to stamp out domestic slavery in that country, as well as its role in the international slave trade.20Hampshire Telegraph, 21 Jan. 1854; Hansard, 29 Feb. 1856, vol. 140, c.1575. On one occasion, when his ignorance of procedure meant he was prevented from raising the issue in the chamber for reasons he did not understand, he condemned the British government’s failure to act as ‘one of the grossest acts of political hypocrisy’.21Hansard, 14 Apr. 1856, vol. 141, 1013-14. Expressing contrition, he later added that ‘he believed he should have introduced the subject in another form and regretted that he was not better acquainted with the rules of the House’ (ibid., c.1014).

In 1856, Biggs voiced support for the general application of limited liability, saying that the ‘feeling of the whole commercial interest of the country was favourable’.22Hansard, 3 Feb. 1856, vol. 140, c.260; ibid., 8 Feb. 1856, vol. 140, cc. 482-83. In the same session he offered untiring opposition to the police (counties and boroughs) bill, which he contended was a centralising measure which sacrificed ‘municipal privileges’.23Hansard, 13 Feb. 1856, vol. 140, c.697; ibid., 2 May 1856, vol. 141, c.1932; ibid., 23 May 1856, vol. 142, c.613. Biggs resigned, 7 January 1857, as his brother John’s election for Leicester, 18 June 1856, required that his energies be focused on the family firm.24Caledonian Mercury, 29 Dec. 1856; Evans, ‘Biggs family’, 42. He was mayor of his native town for a third time in 1859, and was instrumental in reuniting the moderate and radical factions of Leicester Liberalism a few years later.25H. Hartopp, Roll of the mayors and lord mayors of Leicester, 1209 to 1935 ([1936]), 197-98; VCH Leics., iv. 222-23. In 1862, for reasons that remain unclear, J. Biggs and Sons suffered a disastrous collapse. Although bankruptcy was avoided, the firm was crippled and eventually merged into another concern.26R.H. Evans has speculated that John’s focus on politics and its financial cost, a falling off of trade, and the expense of new equipment may all have contributed to the collapse: ‘Biggs, John (1801-1871)’, www.oxforddnb.com. Four years after this catastrophe, William moved to Liverpool where three of his sons had settled. He died there in October 1881, but was buried in Leicester alongside his brother John (MP from 1856-62).27Evans, ‘Biggs, William’. He was succeeded by his eldest son William Worthington Biggs (1840-1910), a cotton trader and ‘prominent Liberal’ in Liverpool.28The Times, 4 Mar. 1910. Two of his other sons were unsuccessful in their attempts to enter Parliament.29Russell Hugh Worthington Biggs (1844-1915), a barrister, stood as a Liberal at Tavistock and Cheltenham at the 1874 and 1886 general elections respectively. Arthur Worthington Biggs (1846-1928), an ‘active Liberal’, was defeated at South Worcestershire at the 1906 general election, but knighted soon after. J. Foster, Men-at-the-Bar (2nd edn., 1885), 37; McCalmont’s parliamentary poll book, 291; ibid., pt. II, 39; The Times, 28 July 1915; Who was who, 1916-1928 (1947), 91, 260.