LOMBE (formerly BEEVOR), Edward (?1800-1852), of Great Melton, Norf.

Lombe’s father, who took this surname when he inherited Sir John Lombe’s Great Melton estate in 1817, was probably the latter’s illegitimate son with the wife of John Beevor, a Norwich doctor. If so, this Member was descended from an old Norfolk family, the most notable of whom were the brothers Thomas and John Lombe, textile manufacturers, who had introduced the technique of silk throwing to England in the early eighteenth century. G.A. Carthew, Hist. Launsditch, iii. 401. In February 1822 Lombe told Sir James Mackintosh*, who was trying to find a seat for him, that he had ‘been at every debate’ in the Commons and ‘means to attend regularly’. Add. 52445, ff. 24, 40, 62. It was through Mackintosh’s influence that he joined Brooks’s Club, 11 July 1823, sponsored by the duke of Norfolk, on whose interest he came in for Arundel in 1826 ‘with a distinct promise to vote for Catholic relief’. Ibid. f. 57; W.D. Cooper, Parl. Hist. Suss. 7.

He duly acted with the Whig opposition to Lord Liverpool’s ministry. He presented a petition from Arundel farmers for maintenance of the corn laws, 12 Feb., The Times, 13 Feb. 1827. but divided for a 50s. rather than 60s. import price for corn, 9 Mar. 1827. He illustrated his opposition to naval impressment with examples of desertion ‘which could only be traced to something faulty in the management of that service’, 13 Feb. That day he endorsed Hume’s call for economies in expenditure and particularly objected to that incurred in Sierra Leone; he announced his intention of submitting a motion on maladministration there, 21 Mar., but took the matter no further. Ibid. 14 Feb., 22 Mar. 1827. He divided against the duke of Clarence’s annuity, 16 Feb., 2 Mar., yet voted for the bill’s passage into committee, 16 Mar. He spoke and voted against the army estimates, 20 Feb., specifically objecting to the lack of explanation in the accounts. Ibid. 21 Feb. 1827. He voted for a select committee on the Irish miscellaneous estimates, 5 Apr. He seconded an amendment criticizing the reappointment of the committee on emigration as an inadequate response to distress, 15 Feb., and ascribed Ireland’s economic plight to lack of investment resulting from the unrest there, which could be ended by granting Catholic relief; he voted accordingly, 6 Mar. He voted for inquiry into the allegations against Leicester corporation, 15 Mar., and information about the mutiny at Barrackpoor, 22 Mar., and the conduct of Lisburn magistrates regarding an Orange procession, 29 Mar. He divided against Canning’s ministry for inquiry into delays in chancery, 5 Apr., separation of bankruptcy cases from that court’s jurisdiction, 22 May, and the disfranchisement of Penryn and Lord Althorp’s election expenses bill, 28 May. He successfully moved that the appendix to a report on the Cape of Good Hope administration be printed, 30 May 1827. Ibid. 31 May 1827. Next day he voted for repeal of the Blasphemous and Seditious Libels Act. He paired for Catholic relief, 12 May 1828, having been ‘prevented by illness from attending the House’. Ibid. 15 May 1828. That autumn he made preparations to contest Norwich at the next general election, but a year later he abandoned this plan. Norwich Mercury, 4 Oct. 1828, 21 Nov. 1829. He voted for Catholic emancipation, 6 Mar. 1829. Although he was granted a month’s leave on account of ill health, 10 Mar. 1830, a radical newspaper subsequently alleged that ‘instead of attending to his parliamentary duties’ he had ‘lately been rendering himself not a little conspicuous in the fashionable circles at Bath’. Brighton Guardian, 7 Apr. 1830. He retired at the dissolution that summer.

Lombe apparently spent the remainder of his life abroad, and he died in Florence in March 1852. He left his entire personal estate to his wife, with remainder to the treasurer of University College Hospital for ‘the general purposes of that institution’. His Norfolk estate passed to his uncle, Charles Beevor, in accordance with Sir John Lombe’s will, and it eventually reverted to a legitimate branch of the family. PROB 11/1593/314; 2149/232.