Lot 12: Melchiorre Delfico (Italian, 1825-1895)

Mr Charles Gilpin, M.P., 'Capital Punishment'
Politician
signed 'M Delfico' (lower right)
pencil, watercolour and bodycolour
12 x 7 in. (30.5 x 17.8 cm.)

Thomas Gibson Bowles.
Original Drawings for Vanity Fair Christie's; London, 5 - 8 March 1912, part of lot 288 (£1 11s. 6d. to Gooden & Fox).

P O L I T I C I A N S

Charles Gilpin, M.P. (c.1805-1874), Politician, was born into a Quaker family in Bristol. He began his career as a publisher in Manchester, afterwards moving to London where he obtained a seat on the City's Common Council. Gilpin was a strong supporter of social reform and campaigned against slavery and capital punishment. From 1857, he sat in Parliament for Northampton and, in 1859, Lord Palmerston (1784-1865) appointed him secretary to the Poor Law Board.

He has identified himself with all the social palliatives that modern ingenuity has invented, and belongs to untold societies of the benevolent intention kind. He is for commerce naturally and has hitherto been known as a pillar of the speculations with which he has had to do.

Vanity Fair, 'Statesmen', No. 136, 1873

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