Abbot, Charles, Baron Colchester, 1757-1829

Person

Abbot, Charles, Baron Colchester, 1757-1829

1757-1829

ABBOT, CHARLES, 1ST BARON COLCHESTER, younger brother of John Farr Abbot (qv); b. 14 Oct 1757; adm. Mar 1763; KS (Capt) 1770; both “acted and looked Thais extremely well in the Eunuchus” of 1772 (Random Recollections of George Colman the Younger, 1830, i, 74); Captain of the School 1774; elected head to Christ Church, Oxford 1775, matr. 14 June 1775, Westminster Student 22 Dec 1775 - 20 Oct 1783, Faculty Student 20 Oct 1783 - res 17 Dec 1796; Chancellor’s Prize for Latin Verse 1777; Vinerian Scholar 1781, Fellow 1786-92; BCL 1783; DCL 1793; Geneva Univ. 1778-9; adm. Middle Temple 14 Oct 1768, called to bar 9 May 1783, Bencher 12 Feb 1802; in brother’s chambers at 11 Kings Bench Walk, Temple, Nov 1779; adm. Inner Temple 25 Nov 1784 and 29 Apr 1785, tenant of chambers there Nov 1784 - May 1788; adm Lincoln’s Inn 26 May 1785; FSA 13 Dec 1792; FRS 14 Feb 1793; Clerk of the Rules, Court of King’s Bench 1794-1801; MP Helston 19 Jun 1795-1802, Woodstock 1802-6, Oxford University 1806-Jun 1817; made his parliamentary reputation as chairman, Select Committee on Finance 1797-8; introduced first Census Act into House of Commons Dec 1800; Chief Secretary for Ireland Feb 1801-Feb 1802, also Secretary of State for Ireland Jun 1801 - Feb 1802; Privy Councillor 21 May 1801; Recorder of Oxford May 1801-Oct 1806; Keeper of Privy Seal (I) from May 1801; hon. LLD Trinity Coll. Dublin 6 Jun 1801; elected Speaker of the House of Commons 10 Feb 1802; resigned on account of ill-health 28 May 1817; cr. Baron Colchester 3 Jun 1817; travelled on European Continent 1819-22; on return took active part in politics until death; a Busby Trustee from 18 May 1802; his Diary and Correspondence were published by his son Charles Abbot, 2nd Baron Colchester (qv), in 1861; m. 29 Dec 1796 Elizabeth, eldest dau. of Sir Philip Gibbes, Bart., Spring Head, Barbados, West Indies; d. 8 May 1829; buried in North Transept, Westminster Abbey. Arms up School. DNB.

Trustee of Sir Philip Gibbes (Father in Law), an owner of an unnamed estate and enslaved people in Barbados

Abbot, John Farr, 1756-1794 (1756-1794)

Abbot, Philip Henry, 1802-1835 (1802-1835)

GB-2014-WSA-00184

GB 2014

International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) 2nd edition

Final

Full

Prepared for import into AtoM by Westminster School Archive staff, 2019-2020
Revised by Bethany Duck, Archive Assistant, September 2020

Supplementary information drawn from UCL's Legacies of British Slave-ownership database. Entry URL: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146660451

Users should note that the information recorded here that is not to be found in the first two volumes of the Record of Old Westminsters and its first Supplement has been assembled from various published and manuscript sources by Hugh Edmund Pagan MA FSA, and all new resulting text is his copyright, © 2014.

The Record of Old Westminsters: A biographical list of all those who are known to have been educated at Westminster School from the earliest times to 1927, Volumes 1 & 2, compiled by G. F. Russell Barker and Alan H. Stenning, London, 1928.