SHELDON, Edward Charles Ralph (1782-1836), of Brailes House, Warwickshire

A ‘decided reformer’, who ‘advocated the principles of Reform in church and state, and the abolition of all taxes exclusively affecting agriculture’, Sheldon made little impression in his brief Commons career, which was terminated by his death a year and half after his election.1The Times, 7 Jan. 1835; Gent. Mag. (1836), ii. 431-2 (at 431). Sheldon hailed from an ancient Catholic family, but his father Ralph converted to Anglicanism, although he supported Catholic relief whilst MP for Wilton 1804-22, and when present, gave general support to ministers.2‘Sheldon, Ralph’, HP Commons, 1790-1820, v. 138; ibid., 1820-1832, vii. 88-9; Gent. Mag. (1836), ii. 431. Although the Times described him as a Catholic, Sheldon was an Anglican like his father.3The Times, 24 June 1836; E.A.B. Barnard, The Sheldons (1936), 77. In his youth Sheldon served in the army and as aide-de-camp to Charles Whitworth, 1st earl Whitworth, lord lieutenant of Ireland, 1813-17.4Gent. Mag. (1836), ii. 431. On his father’s death in 1822, he sold the ancient seat of Weston House to Sir George Philips, who later represented South Warwickshire, and relocated to another family property, Brailes House, which he subsequently rebuilt.5J.B. Burke, A visitation of the seats and arms of the noblemen and gentlemen of Great Britain (1853), ii. 171; G. Tyack, Warwickshire country houses (1994), 216-20, 232; Barnard, The Sheldons, 76.

At the 1835 general election Sheldon offered for South Warwickshire, promising to be ‘a strong advocate for the correction of all abuses in Church and State’, which included support for the appropriation of Irish church temporalities, ‘a fair commutation of tithes’, ‘the abolition of all sinecures’, municipal reform, and the ‘abolition of all taxes exclusively affecting agriculture, and particularly for the immediate abolition of the Malt Tax’.6Morn. Chro., 15 Dec. 1834. He was returned unopposed with a Conservative, and was alternatively described as a ‘radical’ and ‘reformer’, the latter by Charles Dod, though Sheldon had written to advise him that his preferred designation was ‘Liberal’.7The Times, 20 Dec. 1834, 13, 16 Jan. 1835; Derby Mercury, 15 June 1836; Dod’s parliamentary companion (1835), 162; Dod MS, iii. f. 987.

Sheldon, who does not appear to have spoken in debate or served on any committees during his brief parliamentary career, divided with the Whigs in the key party votes of the 1835 session, but backed Chandos’ motion to repeal malt duty, 10 Mar. 1835, and Robinson’s proposal to reform taxation, 12 June 1835. The following year he endorsed Harvey’s motion to scrutinise the pension list, and opposed Sabbatarian legislation and Chandos’ motion on agricultural distress, 19, 21, 27 Apr. 1836. He voted for the Whigs’ proposed reform of Irish municipal corporations and paired off against Stanley’s amendment to the Irish church temporalities bill, 3 June 1836.8The Times, 7 June 1836. Just over a week later, Sheldon, who was a ‘good sportsman’ and keen huntsman, died. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son Henry James Sheldon (1823-1901), the last of the direct male line.9Venator [pseudo.], The Warwickshire hunt from 1795 to 1836 (1837), 357; Al. Cant. pt. II, v. 487; Barnard, The Sheldons, 78; Burke’s landed gentry (1886), ii. 1657.