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Thomas Bigge

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For other people with the same name, see Thomas Bigge (disambiguation).

Thomas Bigge (1766–1851) was an English political writer and activist. In his later life, he was a partner in the goldsmiths Rundell, Bridge & Co.

Thomas Bigge
Born1766
Died1851
Alma materCorpus Christi College, Oxford
Occupation(s)Political writer and activist
RelativesWilliam Bigge (uncle)

Early life

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He was the son of Thomas Bigge (died 1791) of Ludgate Hill, and his wife Elizabeth Rundell, elder sister of Philip Rundell the jeweller and goldsmith; William Bigge (1707–1758) was his uncle. The family owned property at Little Benton, near Longbenton, Northumberland, through his grandfather Thomas Bigge's marriage to the heiress Elizabeth Hindmarsh; and Thomas Bigge the father built the White House there.[1][2]

Bigge was educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, graduating B.A. in 1787.[3]

Political writer and correspondent of the 1790s

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Further information: The Oeconomist, Or, Englishman's Magazine

From a prosperous family in business, with landowning interests, Bigge has been described as a "wealthy associate" of Christopher Wyvill. They both wrote political tracts, from the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars; and shared channels of distribution in Newcastle, through William Charnley (fl. 1755–1803), a bookseller, and Solomon Hodgson, owner of the Newcastle Chronicle which was at this time a leading Whig journal in the region.[4][5][6]

Bigge was a close friend too of John Tweddell, an outspoken student radical;[7] his own views tended to a middle position between the radical and loyalist extremes, as did those of Wyvill and some other prominent reformers.[8] He corresponded with Charles Grey in the later 1790s.[3][9]

In 1795 Grey advised Bigge on an intended anti-war meeting for the county of Northumberland, with a view to keeping the radicals at arm's length: for prudence, no criticism of ministers, and no reform proposals.[10] Bigge prepared the ground, with handbills. When the meeting came about, in December, ostensibly to vote a loyal address, the local Whig grandees successfully took it over. A reported near 5,000 voted petitions against recent legislation.[11][12]

Bigge has also been described as a "wealthy friend" of James Losh.[13] Losh visited Newcastle in 1797, and at that time stayed with Bigge at Little Benton.[13] The monthly periodical The Oeconomist, which appeared in 1798–9, was sustained by Bigge.[13]

Literary and Philosophical Society and New Institution

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Bigge joined the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1795, and played a significant role there.[4] He was the main proponent of the New Institution at Newcastle, which began in 1802 as a lectureship for William Turner. Bigge was influenced by the example of the Royal Institution, while Turner followed the lecturing efforts of John Alderson and William Farish.[14][15]

Later life

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Bigge became a partner in Rundell, Bridge & Co, the goldsmiths founded by Philip Rundell and John Bridge. From 1830, when a new partnership was drawn up, Bigge owned 25% of the goldsmiths; after Bridge's death, he was in charge of the firm with John Gawler Bridge.[16][17]

 
Queen Victoria's crown, made in 1838 by Rundell, Bridge & Co.

The business was involved with prominent artists. In particular, the "Shield of Achilles" project began with William Theed the elder, who died in 1817; and then passed to John Flaxman. The chasing itself was carried out by William Pitts II. Bigge presented a "Shield" to the Royal Society of Literature in 1849, with a portrait of Flaxman.[18][19][20][21] The firm made a new crown for Queen Victoria, less than half the weight of the one made for George IV.[22]

Philip Rundell withdrew capital from the firm in 1823.[17] He died in 1827, leaving a fortune that went off the probate scale, which stopped at £1,000,000. Over half the estate went to Joseph Neeld.[23] Money left to the Bigge family exceeded £100,000; according to James Losh, writing in his diary after news of the death, the bequests were some compensation for having had to put up with a "tyrannical miser".[24] The Gentleman's Magazine reported that Rundell, unmarried and without a home, liked to spend his time with his Brompton niece (i.e. Maria Bigge) or Elizabeth Bannister, another niece.[25]

The important plate business was largely outsourced to William Bateman II, in 1834.[26] Rundell, Bridge & Co. stopped trading in 1843. The partnership was dissolved in 1845.[17]

Bigge is described as of "Brompton Row" (1817)[27] and later "of Bryanston Square";[28] also of Beddington, Surrey c.1835.[29]

Family

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Bigge married Maria Rundell, a first cousin and niece of Philip Rundell, and the daughter of Thomas Rundell of Bath, a surgeon, and his wife Maria Eliza Rundell, the writer on cookery. They had a large family of 13 children;[1][30][31][32] Maria died in Bryanston Square in 1846.[33]

Their eldest daughter Elizabeth married Lieutenant-colonel Alexander Anderson.[34] Daughter Augusta married Edward Pope, Archdeacon of Jamaica.[29] Georgiana married George Scovell and was mother of Sir Augustus Scovell the London politician.[35]

Thomas Hanway Bigge was a relation, and the two have sometimes been confused, in published works.

Notes

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  1. ^ a b John Burke (1833). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland. p. 631.
  2. ^ John Britton (1813). Beauties of England and Wales. T. Maiden. p. 78.
  3. ^ a b John Ritchie (1970). Punishment and Profit: the reports of Commissioner John Bigge on the Colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, 1822–1823; their origins, nature and significance. Heinemann. p. 35.
  4. ^ a b Helen Braithwaite (22 February 2003). Romanticism, Publishing and Dissent: Joseph Johnson and the Cause of Liberty. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 137. ISBN 978-0-333-98394-2.
  5. ^ Isaac, Peter. "Slack, Thomas". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/64284. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  6. ^ Isaac, Peter. "Hodgson, Solomon". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/63760. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  7. ^ John Tweddell; Robert Tweddell (1815). Remains of the Late John Tweddell. p. 142 note.
  8. ^ Clive Emsley (13 October 2014). Britain and the French Revolution. Routledge. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-317-87851-3.
  9. ^ "Grey, Charles (1764–1845), of Falloden and Howick, Northumb., History of Parliament Online". Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  10. ^ E. A. Smith (1990). Lord Grey: 1764–1845. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-19-820163-2.
  11. ^ J. E. Cookson (January 1982). The Friends of Peace: Anti-war Liberalism in England, 1793–1815. Cambridge University Press. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-521-23928-8.
  12. ^ Jenny Graham (2000). The Nation, the Law, and the King: Reform Politics in England, 1789–1799. Vol. 2. University Press of America. pp. 688–9. ISBN 978-0-7618-1484-9.
  13. ^ a b c Stephen Harbottle (1997). The Reverend William Turner: Dissent and Reform in Georgian Newcastle Upon Tyne. Northern Universities Press for the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-901286-80-2.
  14. ^ Eneas Mackenzie (1827). A Descriptive and Historical Account of the Town and County of Newcastle Upon Tyne: Including the Borough of Gateshead. Mackenzie and Dent. p. 472.
  15. ^ Ian Inkster; Jack Morrell (12 November 2012). Metropolis and Province: Science in British Culture, 1780 – 1850. Routledge. p. 215. ISBN 978-1-135-67947-7.
  16. ^ Robert W. Lovett, Rundell, Bridge and Rundell – An Early Company History, Bulletin of the Business Historical Society Vol. 23, No. 3 (Sep. 1949), pp. 152–162, at p. 160. Published by: The President and Fellows of Harvard College.Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3111183
  17. ^ a b c Gordon Campbell (9 November 2006). The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts. Oxford University Press. p. 301. ISBN 978-0-19-518948-3.
  18. ^ "Theed, William I, A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660–1851". Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  19. ^ Gordon Campbell (9 November 2006). The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts. Oxford University Press. p. 300. ISBN 978-0-19-518948-3.
  20. ^ McConnell, Anita. "Pitts family". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/22346. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  21. ^ Royal Society of Literature (Great Britain) (1833). Proceedings. p. 279.
  22. ^ John McGilchrist (1868). The Public Life of Queen Victoria. Cassell, Petter, and Galpin. p. 82.
  23. ^ John Britton; T. E. Jones (1850). Personal and literary memoir of the author.-pt. 2. Descriptive account of his literary works, by T. E. Jones.-pt. 3. (Appendix) Biographical, topographical, critical and miscellaneous essays. p. 314.
  24. ^ James Losh (1963). The Diaries and Correspondence of James Losh. Vol. 2. Published for the Surtees Society by Andrews & Co. pp. 47–8.
  25. ^ Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review. 1827. p. 563.
  26. ^ Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; Beth Carver Wees (1997). English, Irish, & Scottish Silver at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Hudson Hills. p. 590. ISBN 978-1-55595-117-7.
  27. ^ John Nichols (1817). The Gentleman's Magazine. E. Cave. p. 466.
  28. ^ The Gentleman's Magazine. A. Dodd and A. Smith. 1853. p. 215.
  29. ^ a b The Spectator. F.C. Westley. 1835. p. 569.
  30. ^ The Annual Biography and Obituary. 1828. p. 318.
  31. ^ McConnell, Anita. "Rundell, Maria Eliza". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/24278. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  32. ^ John Southerden Burn (1834). The Fleet Registers. Comprising the history of Fleet marriages, and some account of the parsons and marriage-house keepers. Rivingtons. p. 111 note 1.
  33. ^ "Deaths". Newcastle Journal. 4 April 1846. Retrieved 25 June 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  34. ^ Thomas Campbell; Samuel Carter Hall; Edward Bulwer Lytton Baron Lytton; Theodore Edward Hook; Thomas Hood; William Harrison Ainsworth (1817). New Monthly Magazine. E. W. Allen. p. 360.
  35. ^ Edward Walford (1912). Walford's County Families of the United Kingdom. Spottiswoode & Company, Limited. p. 1039.
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