CARTWRIGHT, Henry (1814-1890), of Eydon Hall, Banbury, Oxon and 46 Park Street, London

Born into a family that had provided MPs for the county since the seventeenth century, Cartwright sat for Northamptonshire South between 1858 and 1868 as a silent, but loyal Conservative.

Cartwright, the tenth child of the long-standing Northamptonshire MP William Ralph Cartwright, was educated at Eton prior to being appointed, at a personal cost of £1,200, to the Grenadier Guards, aged 17, in July 1832.1R. Clark, A Military History of Aynho: 600 BC to 2012 (Aynho History Society), 31 <http://www.aynho.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/A_Military_History_of_Aynho.pdf> [accessed 22 Feb. 2016]. He gradually rose, via purchase, through the ranks before being appointed brevet colonel of the 1st battalion in June 1854. Although some of his battalion were sent as reinforcements to the Crimea in November 1854, he appears to have escaped military action, and sold out in August 1857.2The Times, 17 Nov. 1854; Preston Chronicle, 22 Sept. 1855; Clark, Military, 30. There is no indication that Henry had been active in Northamptonshire’s political or social landscape prior to 1856 (when his first activity on the bench is recorded), rather, it seems likely that he spent most of his time in London or with the Guards. He had married the daughter of a Warwickshire landowner, Jane Holbech, in December 1853, and they had moved to their long-term London residence, 46 Park Street, by 1855.3Morning Post, 13 Oct. 1854; 21 Dec. 1855.

It came as a surprise to local commentators when Cartwright, ‘shrowded behind a veil of impenetrable mystery’, was announced as the Conservative candidate for the 1858 South Northamptonshire by-election.4Northampton Mercury, 23 Jan. 1858. Canvassing under the moniker Colonel Cartwright, he was initially mistaken by electors for his older half-brother, Colonel William Cartwright, who had sought the Conservative nomination for the county in 1852 and was a well-known chairman of the quarter sessions.5Northampton Mercury, 9 Jan. 1858. Accordingly, Henry was accused in the liberal Northampton Mercury of riding on the coattails of his family name, canvassing ‘under false colours’, and denigrated for owning no property in the county.6Northampton Mercury, 4 Jan. 1858, 9 Jan. 1858, 23 Jan. 1858, 30 Jan. 1858. These charges failed to prevent his election, however, in a close contest by 84 votes over the Liberal candidate Lord Henley. On the hustings he declared his support for the established Church, his preference that the governance of India should not be reformed until peace had been restored, and his opposition to any franchise reform and the Maynooth grant.7Northampton Mercury, 30 Jan. 1858.

Cartwright’s first parliament was his best attended – he voted in 51.4% of divisions (the average was 34.8%). Aside from a rebellious vote in the minority for Spooner’s anti-Maynooth motion, 29 Apr. 1858, he followed the Conservative whip on all major issues, including in support of the second reading of the Derby government’s reform bill, 31 Mar. 1859. He was a silent member throughout his career. Cartwright was returned uncontested in 1859, when he reaffirmed his Conservative principles and endorsed the proposed expansion of the navy to ensure Britain’s security against a much-feared French invasion.8Northampton Mercury, 7 May 1859. He maintained an average attendance in the division lobbies, and followed the Conservative whip on every significant issue throughout the 1859 Parliament. He was also a member of the 1859 Huddersfield election committee, and performed some committee duties over private legislation in 1860 and 1861.9PP 1859 sess. 2 (170), iii. 301; PP 1860 (0.122), lvi. 28; PP 1861 (0.94), i. 437.

Ahead of the 1865 election, Cartwright’s silence in debate was criticised by the Northampton Mercury, which accused him of possessing ‘no influence in the House’.10Northampton Mercury, 10 June 1865. This failed to prevent his re-election, however, as his repeated assurances to electors that he would defend the agricultural interest, as well as the strength of Conservative organisation in the county, ensured both he and fellow Conservative candidate Rainald Knightley were returned with a majority of over 200 over their single Liberal opponent.11Northampton Mercury, 24 June 1865, 22 July 1865. Following this, Cartwright’s attendance in the division lobbies increased slightly, and he continued his infrequent private committee work.12PP 1867 (0.106), lvi. 39. He remained a loyal Conservative, backing every major division of the 1867 reform bill. He also signalled his eventual acceptance of the need for a compromise over church rates (which he had opposed the abolition of consistently since 1858), dividing with 30 moderate Conservative MPs (including two cabinet members) in favour of the first clause of Gladstone’s church rates abolition bill, 13 Mar. 1868.13Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 13 Mar. 1868; O. Anderson, ‘Gladstone’s Abolition of Compulsory Church Rates: a Minor Political Myth and its Historiographical Career’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 25 (1974), 189.

For financial reasons, Cartwright had planned to retire in 1868, but was persuaded to offer again by the local Conservative association after Rainald Knightley, the county’s other incumbent Conservative, had refused to stand with the financially independent Colonel Lloyd Lindsey, who had been identified as Cartwright’s replacement.14P. Gordon, The Red Earl: The Papers of the fifth Earl Spencer, 1835-1910 (1981), i. 67-68. After internal disagreements about funding and the distribution of a Conservative subscription, however, Cartwright eventually resigned and his nephew Fairfax William Cartwright (1823-1881) offered instead.15Northampton Mercury, 15 Aug. 1868, 5 Sept. 1868, 19 Sept. 1868. Following his retirement Cartwright was inactive in public life. He died in relative obscurity in 1890 at his Northamptonshire seat at Eydon Hall (which he had purchased between 1863 and 1865), where he was also buried.16Northampton Mercury, 17 Oct. 1863, 1 May 1865. Following the announcement of his death the Northampton Mercury noted ‘of late years we had heard little of him, and had seen less’.17Northampton Mercury, 1 Aug. 1890. His wife had died in 1877 and he was survived by three sons and two daughters. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward Arthur Cartwright (1860-1925), and his will was resworn at £125,710.18England and Wales, National Probate Calendar, 18 Sept. 1890.