JOHN BONHAM CARTER, ESQ., M.P. FOR THE CITY OF WINCHESTER.
SECONDER OF THE ADDRESS IN THE COMMONS.
The honourable member—eldest son of the late John Bonham Carter, who from 1816 to 1838 represented Portsmouth in Parliament—was born the 13th October, 1817. He received his preliminary education from a private tutor, in 1836 entered Trinity College, Cambridge, and subsequently studied for the bar, but was not called.
In 1841 he came forward as candidate for the borough of Petersfield, but retired without going to a poll. In the following year he visited Norway, and has since travelled through the principal countries of Europe.
At the general election of 1847 he was invited by requisition to contest Winchester, and in 1848 was appointed Deputy-Lieutenant of Hants. The candidates were Sir James East, Mr. Melville Portal, now M.P. for North Hampshire, and Bickham Escott, one of the ablest of the Peel party and one of the first of them that became a Free-trader. Mr. Portal retired after the nomination, and at the close of the poll the numbers were—Carter, 363; East, 315; Escott 243.
Previous to his seconding the Address the honourable member, except on matters of committee business, had not spoken in the House, but he has always been a consistent supporter of the Government, careful of the interests of his constituents, a diligent attender in the House, and has served in every session on important public and private committees, amongst which may be mentioned that on the Kaffir war, the Friendly Societies, and Turnpike Roads.
In seconding the Address, Mr. Bonham Carter dwelt upon the proofs of prosperity afforded by the facts of trade. The great national barometer was rising; the exports of the year showed an increase of nearly £3,000,000. Spite of the dismal auguries as to the Navigation Laws, our shipping had not failed; where, in 1843, we had two, we had now three ships; and every ship then of 100 tons was represented now by one of 130 tons. The poor-law returns showed an improved condition of the people; but it was manifest to any one who had visited the Exhibition: it was impossible to have seen the content on so many thousand faces without rejoicing at the prosperity of the country. Such a period was the fitting time to consider an extension of the suffrage. He did not know the details of the proposed reform, but was sure it would include in the franchise a large amount of intelligence at present excluded. The proofs of the fitness of the people for such extension were abundant. The increase of letters by post from 75,000,000 per annum in 1832 to nearly a million a day, the number they reached last year; the circulation of cheap and good publications, of which those of the Messrs. Chambers alone amount to about 10,000,000 sheets per annum; the prodigious increase of books read in mechanics’ institutes, the extension of friendly societies, the increased amount of deposits in the savings-banks, were some such evidences; and he trusted that, under the new measure, no class would be left in a position to show, that, being fitted to appreciate the trust, it was to remain without participation in the franchise.
Sir John Carter, grandfather of the honourable member, was knighted by George III., for his eminent services in preserving the public peace, at the time of the mutiny at Spithead, in 1793, and which he was enabled to do by the universal esteem in which he was held. His father was the leading Liberal of Portsmouth and the surrounding district for several years, and in the preparation and carriage of the Reform Bill through Parliament, was constantly consulted by the Government.
His maternal grandfather, Mr. W. Smith, for nearly forty years represented the city of Norwich, and was for several years the father of the House. The hon. member married, in 1848, Laura Maria, youngest daughter of George Thomas Nicholson, of Waverley Abbey, Surrey.
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