MUNDY, William (1801-1877), of Markeaton Hall , Derbyshire

Praised for the ‘polished elegance of his manners’ and his ‘natural and easy’ oratory, Mundy, lord of the manors of Markeaton and Mackworth, offered loyal support to the Conservative leadership during his two spells in Parliament, although it would be misleading to view him as the archetypal silent country gentleman.1Derby Mercury, 18 Apr. 1877. He followed in the footsteps of his father, Francis Mundy (1771-1837), who had been county member (1822-1831), and more immediately, his kinsman Edward Miller Mundy, who represented South Derbyshire (1841-1849).2HP Commons, 1820-1832, vi. 453-5. He displayed a cool temper during the reform tumult of 1831, for which he blamed ‘the constant excitement in which the inhabitants have been kept by the Radical party’, and regularly kept guard until 6 o’clock in the morning after ‘a large mob’ from Derby smashed all of the windows of his family home.3Mundy to his mother-in-law, Lady Harriot Frampton, 20 Oct. 1831, in The journal of Mary Frampton, ed. H. Mundy (1885), 393. For the second quote and a description of the attack see the letter from his wife to her mother, 8 Oct. 1831 (at 386).

A regular attender of local party meetings, Mundy was selected as the Conservative candidate for the by-election occasioned by the death of his cousin, and although he was returned unopposed, 23 Mar. 1849, he was dogged throughout his campaign by claims that he had prevented a Wesleyan tenant from using his house for religious services.4Derby Mercury, 7, 14, 21, 28 Mar. 1849. An opponent of any further instalments of free trade, Mundy was returned in time to vote against the repeal of the navigation laws and was generally to be found siding with the Protectionist rump of the Conservative party over the next decade.5House of Commons Divisions Lists, 1849 session, 23 Apr. 1849; Derby Mercury, 6 June 1849. He opposed political reforms, including the equalisation of the county and borough franchise, and the ‘little Charter’ of the ballot, household suffrage, triennial parliaments and more equal electoral districts.6House of Commons Divisions Lists, 1849 session, 24 May 1849, 5 June 1849, 3 July 1849; ibid., 1850 session, 28 Feb. 1850, 7 Mar. 1850, 9 July 1850; ibid., 1851 session, 2 Apr. 1851; ibid., 1852 session, 23, 30 Mar. 1852, 27 Apr. 1852; ibid., 1854 session, 13 June 1854; ibid., 1854-55 session, 22 May 1855; ibid., 1857 session 1, 19 Feb. 1857. He supported the numerous motions to relieve agricultural distress proposed by Disraeli and others, and also cast votes for the repeal or diminution of malt duty.7House of Commons Divisions Lists, 1850 session, 1, 21 Feb. 1850, 5 July 1850; ibid., 1851 session, 13 Feb. 1851, 8 May 1851; ibid., 1852-53 session, 16 Dec. 1852. A robust defender of the established Church, he voted for Russell’s ecclesiastical titles bill of 1851, resisted the abolition of church rates, and opposed the Jewish disabilities bill at every stage in 1853.8House of Commons Divisions Lists, 1851 session, 25 Mar. 1851, 3 Apr. 1851, 1 May 1851; ibid., 1852-53 session, 24 Feb. 1853, 11 Mar. 1853, 15 Apr. 1853; ibid., 1854-55 session, 29 Mar. 1855, 16 May 1855.

Unlike his increasingly independent colleague Colvile, with whom he was returned without opposition at the 1852 general election, Mundy remained unimpressed with Palmerston’s conduct of foreign affairs, preferring a non-interventionist policy.9Derby Mercury, 28 Mar. 1849; House of Commons Divisions Lists, 1850 session, 28 June 1850; ibid., 1857 session 1, 3 Mar. 1857. He did not, however, approve of the coalition ministry’s handling of the Crimean War, and voted for the critical motions of Roebuck and Disraeli in 1855.10House of Commons Divisions Lists, 1854-55 session, 25 May 1855, 19 July 1855. Based on the available figures for 1853, 1854 and 1856, it appears that Mundy missed two-thirds of the divisions in each session.11In 1853, he voted in 68 out of 257 divisions; in 1854 he voted in 81 out of 240 divisions; and in 1856 he voted in 68 out of 198 divisions: Daily News, 21 Sept. 1853; Derby Mercury, 23 Aug. 1854; J. Gassiot, Third letter to J.A. Roebuck, with a full analysis of the divisions in the House of Commons during the last session of Parliament (1857), 4. He was more diligent in his service on committees, attending every sitting of the sympathetic inquiry into the wages of framework knitters in the 1854-55 session, which condemned the practice of charging workers ‘rent’ for the use of the frames, but did not produce any legislative change.12PP 1854-55 (421), xiv. 1-3; 1854-55 (489), xliv. 14. He also had a good attendance record on private bills committees.13PP 1856 (453), li. 40; 1859, session 2 (0.36), xxvi. 132.

Mundy announced his retirement in a letter to the press dated 9 Mar. 1857, which stated that his health was no longer up to continuous attendance at Westminster.14Derby Mercury, 11 Mar. 1857. However, he was compelled to come forward by local supporters at the 1859 election, and was returned in second place, a single vote ahead of another Liberal.15Derby Mercury, 13 Apr. 1859; Poll book for South Derbyshire (1859), 45, 145; C. Hogarth, ‘Derby and Derbyshire elections, 1852-1865’, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal (1981), ci. 151-72 (at 167). Standing on a moderate programme, he earnt the respect of his opponents; at one election meeting a critic in the crowd conceded ‘You are not so bad as you have been represented’.16Derby Mercury, 27 Apr. 1857. In Parliament Mundy continued to vote along party lines, but now made a greater contribution to debate, particularly on the 1865 prisons bill, to which he unsuccessfully proposed three amendments, two of which related to the cutting of prisoners’ hair.17Hansard, 9 June 1865, vol. 179, cc. 1328-35. He also intervened in the debate on poor law union chargeability, and twice questioned ministers: ibid., 12 Feb. 1863, vol. 169, c.292; 16 June 1864, vol. 175, c.1837; 19 June 1865, vol. 180, cc. 444-45. He stood his ground at the 1865 general election, stating that he was in favour of reform, which was rather at odds with his record in the previous parliament, having opposed the 1864 borough franchise bill.18Derby Mercury, 19 July 1865; House of Commons Divisions Lists, 1861 session, 13 Mar. 1861; ibid., 1864 session, 11 May 1864. In a close contest, he lost his place to Colvile, by now a Liberal, and Mundy later complained bitterly, and with some justice, of his former colleague’s ‘misrepresentation and offensive personalities’.19Derby Mercury, 1 May 1867.

Mundy did not seek election again, but his services were recognised by local supporters who presented him with a silver vase, with a Greek motif, in April 1867.20Derby Mercury, 10 Apr. 1867, 1 May 1867. He died ten years later, succeeded by his only child Francis Noel (1833-1903), who did not pursue a political career, and whose widow, Emily (d. 1929) was the last of the Mundys of Markeaton Hall, which was demolished, in 1964.21Derby Mercury, 18 Apr. 1867; Walford’s County Families (1920), i. 993; G. Turbutt, A history of Derbyshire (1999), iv. 1632, 1661. There is a description and engraving of the Hall in J. Neale, Views of the seats of noblemen and gentlemen (1824), second series, i. (no pagination).