Raikes Currie was Member of Parliament for Northampton from 1837 to 1857.
17 Facts About Raikes Currie
1.
2.
Raikes Currie restored Minley Manor and made substantial improvements to the estate, work which was continued by his son and grandson.
3.
Raikes Currie's uncles included Thomas Raikes, Governor of the Bank of England from 1797 to 1799 and personal friend of William Wilberforce, the leader of the campaign against the slave trade; and Robert Raikes, the founder of Sunday schools.
4.
Raikes Currie was a daughter of John Wodehouse, 2nd Baron Wodehouse of Kimberley, and Sophia Berkeley.
5.
Raikes Currie's home was at Minley Manor, near Blackwater and Hawley, in Hampshire, England.
6.
Raikes Currie bought the land in 1846 and, as the manor house and the estate needed attention, commissioned Henry Clutton to design a new house, which was built between 1858 and 1860.
7.
Grandson Laurence Raikes Currie built a water tower, created a new complex of walled gardens and further extended the ornamental planting and woodland.
8.
Raikes Currie was elected as MP for Northampton at the 1837 general election, and held the seat until he stood down twenty years later at the 1857 general election.
9.
Raikes Currie was a Whig and took an active part in debates and committees.
10.
Raikes Currie made contributions to debates on banking and currency and South Australia.
11.
Raikes Currie was a vigorous supporter of his party and on one occasion made a long speech chastising the leader of his party for crossing the floor and supporting the Tory party.
12.
In 1849, with Richard Cobden and Lord Dudley Stuart, Raikes Currie offered financial aid and support in Parliament for the stream of Hungarian emigres who arrived in England in the wake of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 as the forces of repression in Hungary intensified.
13.
Raikes Currie was a founder director of the South Australian Company and a director of the Van Diemen's Land Company.
14.
Raikes Currie was a Member of the Provisional Committee of the South Australian Association and of the South Australia Literary and Scientific Association.
15.
Raikes Currie was one of four donors in 1859 of the Silver Bowl from which the annual Adelaide City Council 'toast to Colonel Light' is drunk.
16.
Raikes Currie was a religious man and was Treasurer of the South Australian District Committee of the Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.
17.
Raikes Currie started an important collection of books, manuscripts and works of art, which was considerably enlarged by his son Bertram and grandson Laurence.