Talk:William Huskisson

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Place of birth?

Some references incorrectly quote William Huskisson's place of birth as Birch Moreton Court, Warwickshire. Other references quote it as Birchmoreton Court, Worcestershire. In fact the place is called Birtsmorton Court near Malvern in Worcestershire. See Birtsmorton Court which shows it as a privately owned medieval moated manor house. Location WR13 6JS

See also external link BUSHBURY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY which has more details about the Huskisson family history at Oxley Manor in Bushbury near Wolverhampton.
DFH 14:20:42, 2005-09-10 (UTC)

Forthcoming book

I've just finished a book about Huskisson and will be adding some detail to this article at some point, but just now I found the following contemporary account of the Death of Huskisson - at http://home.freeuk.net/don-aitken/wade/1830c.html Mintguy (T) 13:22, 19 Apr 2004 (UTC)

DEATH OF MR. HUSKISSON.—Today was fixed for the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway; it had been four years in progress, and up to May 31 the expenditure on the works amounted to £7,391,656. The duke of Wellington, Mr. Huskisson, and other public characters had been invited to be present at the opening ceremony. A very handsome carriage prepared for the duke led the procession from Liverpool. At Parkfield, the engines stopped to renew the feeders and take in a supply of fuel. Here, contrary to the printed directions of the directors, several gentlemen descended from the carriages, among them, Mr. Huskisson. Mr. William Holmes, M.P., thinking the moment favourable for bringing Mr. Huskisson and the duke together, and for producing a renewed good feeling between them, led Mr. Huskisson round to that part of the car where the duke was stationed, who perceiving the advance of the hon. gentleman, immediately held out his hand to him, which was shaken in a very cordial manner.

At this moment, the Rocket was perceived to be on the advance, and there was a general cry Get in ! Get in ! Mr. Huskisson hesitating, was knocked down by the steam-carriage, which went over his thigh and lacerated him in so dreadful a manner as to occasion his death the following night. On being raised from the ground, by the Earl of Wilton and Mr. Parkes, Mr. Huskisson said, “This is my death—God, forgive me!” An occasion of very natural exultation was thus converted into one of mourning. Mr. Huskisson was in the 60th year of his age, an and, with lord Dudey, headed a small but clever political section, of which the Grants, lord Palmerston, and Mr. William Lamb, were members. He did not stand high, any more than his party, for public disintrestedness; nor was he distinguished for eloquence: he had neither the graces of diction, fluency, nor readiness of speech; but was acute, full, and correct in information, and was listened to with deference by the house of commons, especially on commercial subjects, with the principles and statistics of which he was well acquainted. His life had been mainly spent in office, to which he was passionately attached, and at the last unhappy catastrophe seems to have been engaged, in concert with Mr. Holmes, in an amicable overture to the minister by whom he had been haughtily treated.

My understanding was that he couldn't get back on the train because he was too fat. I read an account similar to the one above which indicated his weight caused him to stumble backwards (or hesitate) and he got run over. This isn't reflected in that bloody statue! Bloody artists romantisicing our fat-arse politicians. Imaging a statue of a chizled, attractive John Prescott, Anne Widdicome or Gordon Brown in 100 years time or so. Actually, don't. No one will ever bother making statues of those fat worthless gits, so don't waste your time imagining them. Well, maybe Brown. We'll see. Hopefully it will have an authentic glass-eye/security camera or, if he's really good a Primeminister, a ruby/emerald/diamond. Where was I? Oh aye, Huskisson was fat and fell over.--Crestville 16:11, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Thomas Huskisson - Eyewitness to Trafalgar

Picking up on the family history section, the book Eyewitness to Trafalgar by Thomas Huskisson was reprinted in 1985 as a limited edition of 1000; (Ellisons' Editions, ISBN 0946092095). DFH 18:50, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

He died without children. Who were his heirs? Why have the Ettricks & Lawrences carried his name forward, and continue the history of being related to him? ¬¬¬¬ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.173.52.56 (talk) 06:20, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

Compensation

I have heard that this incident was the trigger for the repeal of a medieval law on compensation in which the family of a victim would receive the object that killed him or her (a bull, dog, or in this case a steam engine!), but I can find no reference to this.--Jack Upland (talk) 21:27, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

Honeymoon incident

I've just watched the unaired pilot of QI where it is contested than, as well as being the first person killed in a railway accident, Huskisson also narrowly avioded death on his honeymoon when a horse fell on him. Is this worth mentioning in the article? It could be his claim to being one of history's most unlucky politicians. After Gordon Brown (satire!) --Crestville (talk) 13:20, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

I also spotted that, and made a pencilled note in my copy of Garfield, since there is a discrepancy. According to Garfield, "his [Huskisson's] horse fell on him just before his marriage". Garfield also suggests that both William and Emily Huskisson were from accident-prone families. So, we have three possibilities: (i) the QI elves got their facts muddled; (ii) Garfield got his facts muddled; (iii) Huskisson fell off his horse twice, but Garfield only reported the first one. I'd go with (iii), since apparently Huskisson could break his arm getting out of bed in the morning, so I wouldn't put it past him to fall off his horse more times than people credit him for.

He certainly was unlucky; read Garfield's book, it's most interesting (and amusing in places, despite the generally tragic story), and still in print.

• Garfield, Simon (2002). "Part One — A New Impulse". The Last Journey of William Huskisson. London: Faber and Faber. p. 8. ISBN 0-571-21608-0.

--Redrose64 (talk) 15:49, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

I genuinely thought you meant Garfield the cat and were making fun of me.--Crestville (talk) 16:41, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

Whoopps, my bad. For "Huskisson fell off his horse", read "Huskisson's horse fell on him"; for "to fall off his horse", read "to be fallen on by his horse". Doesn't change the basic thing though: which happened first, the wedding or the accident; or were there two accidents? --Redrose64 (talk) 22:00, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

The statue

Is the statue supposed to be a likeness of Huskisson, or is it (as the article points out), just "a Roman in a toga"? It doesn't look much like him, and in fact the contrast between the figure on the plinth and the portrait at the top of the article is comical, but then again the sculptor might have been using artistic licence, and it does seem odd that it's just a random Roman. -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 18:36, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Eartham church eulogy

Eartham Church Huskisson plaque

For reference, I've asked here to see if it is possible to get a picture of the Eartham church eulogy. Carcharoth (talk) 00:35, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

And the result was this picture. I may also add it directly to the article, but even if it doesn't fit there quite yet it should be of interest and is accessible through the Commons link in the article. Carcharoth (talk) 06:07, 11 January 2011 (UTC)

During early life : how long W. Huskisson stay in France ?

Hi,
I’m surprised because in we can see in the The London and Paris observer that he was in Paris on 1797-08-11. So :

1. he leave France after this day
2. the British ambassador to Paris was Lord Gower since may 1790

Sincerely. --6PO (talk) 17:54, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

References

Death

I am writing a book on early railways, and most accounts of the death on Huskinsson say he was run over by the Dart, not the Rocket. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.93.143.141 (talk) 09:52, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

Every reliable source concurs that Huskisson disembarked from Northumbrian at Parkside and was struck by the Rocket, driven by Joseph Locke. There's an almost minute-by-minute account of the collision here. ‑ Iridescent 15:12, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

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Consolidated Slave Law

Thee has been a citation request for the claim that Huskisson proposed the revised Consolidated Slave Law. Two years on, and no citation is forthcoming, and I can find no proof of Huskisson's involvement. In C.R.Fay's Huskisson and His Age, Huskisson worked on taxation measures, as was his speciality in government. It concerns me, as this fact has been skewed to try and prove a link between Huskisson and slavery, to excuse vandalism of a statue of him, and similarities are being drawn to Edward Colston of Bristol, and Huskisson's grave has also been vandalised. If there is evidence to support this claim, then so be it, but with no citation, how long is an unsupported statement allowed to stay up? Can it be deleted? LMRT (talk) 02:17, 3 June 2023 (UTC)

Memorial by Railway

There is a memorial at the site of the fatal accident by the railway, which is still the main railway line between Manchester and Liverpool. It's in a rather odd place, as only train drivers can really appreciate it!

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Huskisson+Memorial/@53.4548568,-2.6062703,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x487b040ed03aedad:0x15ea452450af75fa!8m2!3d53.4548572!4d-2.5959706!16s%2Fg%2F12hldm1nc?entry=ttu Colin Jost Fan 12 (talk) 18:02, 30 March 2024 (UTC)