Sir Richard Gilpin, 1st Baronet

Achievement of arms

Sir Richard Thomas Gilpin, 1st Baronet (12 January 1801 – 8 April 1882) was an English Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1851 to 1880.

Gilpin was the only son of Richard Gilpin of Hockliffe, who was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Bedfordshire Militia, and his second wife, Sarah Wilkinson, fourth daughter of William Wilkinson of Westmorland. He was educated at Rugby School and at Christ's College, Cambridge and after a brief spell as a Captain in the Bedfordshire Militia in 1820 he joined the regular army. He served in the 14th Light Dragoons and the Rifle Brigade, eventually reaching the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. As a half-pay officer he returned to the Bedfordshire Militia as Major under his father in 1840, was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1847 and then to Colonel the following year. At the time the Militia was moribund, but it was reorganised in 1852 and he commanded the regiment until 24 January 1879, when he became its Honorary Colonel.

He was also Deputy Lieutenant and J.P. for Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire and High Sheriff of Bedfordshire in 1850.

In 1851 Gilpin was elected Member of Parliament for Bedfordshire. He held the seat until 1880. He was in favour of civil and religious liberty. He was created baronet 'of Hockliffe Grange, in the County of Bedford' on 19 February 1876.

In 1831, Gilpin married Mrs Louisa Turton, née Browne (d. 1871), former wife of Mr Thomas Turton (later Sir Thomas Edward Mitchell Turton) whom she divorced for adultery in 1831 in a famous case Turton vs Turton 1829–1831. Louisa was eldest daughter of General Gore Browne of Weymouth; her first marriage in 1812 to Thomas Turton, son of a baronet, was dissolved by the House of Lords decision 1831 permitting Louisa to divorce her husband. Louisa Turton was only the second woman so permitted (after Mrs Addison in 1801), and the decision also allowed her to remarry.

Gilpin died at the age of 81. The officers of the Bedfordshire Militia placed a stained glass window in St Paul's Church, Bedford, in his memory. The 9th Duke of Bedford arranged for the 1855 Regimental colours to be placed by the sides of the memorial window when they were replaced in 1883.

His entailed estates were inherited by his niece Amy Mary Louisa Meux-Smith, and her husband, the racehorse trainer Peter Valentine Purcell, who both adopted the surname Gilpin.

Coat of arms of Sir Richard Gilpin, 1st Baronet

Crest In front of three tilting spears points upwards, one in pile and two in saltire Proper, as many mascles interlaced fesswise Or. Escutcheon Or a boar passant Sable in chief two roses Gules barbed and seeded Proper. Motto Une Foy Mesme (The Same Faith)

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Richard Gilpin