REPTON, George William John (1818-1906), of Bolton Street, Piccadilly, Mdx.

Scion of a famous architectural family, the lengthy but mediocre parliamentary career of Repton, a Conservative loyalist, was perhaps disappointing given his connections and apparent early promise. His maternal grandfather Humphrey Repton (1752-1818) was an architect and landscape gardener and his father, George Stanley, was a protégé of John Nash, and married without the permission and against the wishes of his prospective father-in-law, the formidable Tory lord chancellor, John Scott, 1st earl of Eldon (1751-1838), although they were later reconciled.R. Riddell, ‘Repton, George Stanley (1786-1858)’, www.oxforddnb.com.

Making his political debut as a ‘good Conservative’ at St. Albans at the 1841 general election, Repton said he would never forget that he was Eldon’s grandson, condemned the Whigs’ proposed fixed duty on corn as well as the new Poor Law, offering support for outdoor relief, and promised to ‘exert himself to effect an amelioration of the condition of the working classes’.The Times, 24, 30 June 1841. He conducted a vigorous canvass and impressed an observer who described him as ‘a young man of extremely interesting exterior … who speaks well’.The Times, 24 June 1841. Repton was elected in second place, although it later transpired that ‘large sums of money’ had been spent by Conservative agents in bribes.The Times, 30 June 1841; PP 1852 [1431], xxvii. 13.

At Parliament, Repton honoured his commitment to defend the corn laws, but his expected opposition to the new Poor Law, or support for its alteration, was not forthcoming. A party loyalist, he approved of Peel’s tariff revisions of 1842, but his support for factory regulation and shorter working hours was a rare point of divergence from his leaders. Repton endorsed the 1843 arms bill for Ireland, and the following year, apparently making his maiden speech, 15 Feb. 1844, expressed satisfaction for the government’s Irish policy, although he said it would be ‘perfect insanity’ to endow the Roman Catholic priesthood, however, unlike some of his colleagues, he supported the 1845 Maynooth College bill.Hansard, 15 Feb. 1844, vol. 72, cc. 951-2. Repton opposed the repeal of the corn laws, although his only contribution to the debate, 16 Mar. 1846, was to complain of the reduction of the duty on straw plait, an important industry in Hertfordshire.Hansard, 16 Mar. 1844, vol. 84, cc. 1066-7.

Repton was elected in second place at the 1847 general election, but half of his votes had been purchased by the Conservative agent, acting without his knowledge or sanction, although he was suspicious.PP 1852 [1431], xxvii. 13. At Parliament Repton opposed further instalments of political reform and free trade, whilst his attempt to reduce the grant to Polish refugees, 4 June 1849, as ‘no revolution had taken place in Europe in which the Poles had not taken a distinguished part’, was unsuccessful.Hansard, 4 June 1849, vol. 105, cc. 1109-10. As the corruption of St. Albans was further exposed by an 1850 by-election and moves developed to disenfranchise it, Repton was forced to defend himself to fellow MPs as well as the investigating commissioners. Whilst acknowledging the justice of the commissioners’ report, 16 Feb. 1852, Repton insisted that he had a ‘firm desire to resist everything like bribery and corruption’ at the last election, but admitted that it had undoubtedly been ‘carried on’, and therefore pledged that he would never again stand as a candidate at St. Albans, which was in any case disenfranchised later that year.PP 1852 [1431], xxvii. 13; Hansard, 16 Feb. 1852, vol. 119, c. 619.

At the 1852 general election, Repton was elected in first place at Warwick, where he stood on the ‘Castle interest’ of the Tory earl of Warwick. He was returned unopposed at the two subsequent general elections and again topped the poll in 1865. Despite the change of constituency, Repton’s voting behaviour followed a similar pattern. More novel was his interest in Irish economic development, especially the country’s communications links, which was perhaps a result of his marriage into one of Ireland’s most eminent noble families, the FitzGeralds, dukes of Leinster, in 1848.PP 1852-53 (747), xxiv. 616; Hansard, 18 June 1857, vol. 145, c. 2012; 21 July 1857, 3 Aug. 1857, vol. 147, cc. 132-3, 930. Whilst Radicals decried the transatlantic mail contract granted by the Conservative government to the Galway company as a political job, Repton defended it as a boon to Ireland and called on critics to give it a fair trial, 8 Apr. 1859.Hansard, 8 Apr. 1859, vol. 153, c. 1573. Displaying some knowledge of his family’s profession, Repton complained about the ‘approach to the House above ground’, given the disorderly profusion of carriages, carts and horses, 1 June 1863.Hansard, 1 June 1863, vol. 171, c. 229. Although he supported his party’s 1859 bill, Repton opposed proposed political reforms, and during the debates on the 1867 representation of the people bill he resisted enfranchising clauses, and redistributing seats to the large boroughs at the expense of the small. The last was a matter of personal and local importance as Repton, with the aid of his Liberal colleague, successfully resisted Gilpin’s amendment to reduce Warwick to one member, 5 July 1867.Gilpin proposed that Warwick, Tamworth, Tiverton and Barnstaple (selected as their populations fell between 10,000 and 12,000) lose one member each, so as to enable Luton, St. Helens, Barnsley and Keighley to be enfranchised. The amendment was defeated 195-224. Hansard, 5 July 1867, vol. 188, cc. 1235-7, 1250.

Repton was relegated to third at the 1868 general election, but was returned for Warwick at the next general election in 1874, retiring eleven years later.McCalmont’s parliamentary poll book, ed. J. Vincent and M. Stenton (8th edn., 1972), 304 He died in 1906 having ‘been in failing health for some time’ and was succeeded by Guy George Repton, his only son.The Times, 31 Aug. 1906; Al. Oxon. 1715-1886, iii. 1187.