Joseph Hume, the son of a shipmaster, was born in Montrose in 1777.
Hume was apprenticed to a local surgeon and after finishing his training
in Edinburgh he worked as a doctor for
the East India Company. Hume impressed his
employers and he soon held a senior position in the company. When
Hume returned to Scotland in 1808 he was a rich man. He now turned
his attention to politics and in 1812 he was the successful Tory
candidate for the Border constituency.
Once in Parliament Hume's political views began to change and by 1818
he supported the Whigs. As well as supporting
universal suffrage, Hume campaigned for religious freedom including
Catholic emancipation. In 1824 he managed
to persuade the House of Commons to obtain
a select committee to investigate the Combination
Acts. Other policies advocated by Hume included the setting up
of savings banks, the abolition of flogging in the army and an end
to imprisonment for debt. Hume's Radical views meant that he had to
switch to the Middlesex constituency.
By 1830 Joseph Hume was seen by many people as the leader of the movement
for universal suffrage in the House of Commons.
As a Radical, Hume was not satisfied with the 1832
Reform Act and continued to argue from an extension of the franchise.
Hume worked closely with William Lovett
and in 1839 he helped to present the Chartist petition for parliamentary
reform signed by over a million people. With Francis
Place Hume tried hard to unite middle class and working class
radicals. However, Hume was totally opposed to the tactics advocated
by Fergeas O'Connor and the physical force
Chartists.
Joseph Hume's support for the Nonconformist demands for a reduction
in the power of the Anglican Church led
to charges of him being part of a Popish conspiracy. In the 1837
General Election his opponents used the campaign slogan "No
Popery" and the strong anti-Catholic feelings in Middlesex resulted
in him being defeated.
Joseph Hume's attempts to became M.P. for Leeds ended in failure but
in 1842 he was elected to represent his home town of Montrose. After
the decline in Chartism in 1848, Hume
lead the campaign for the Little Charter, based on the idea of triennial
parliaments and the vote being granted to ratepayers. Joseph Hume
represented Montrose until his death in 1855.
(1)
William Lovett, Life and Struggles of
William Lovett (1876)
Among those who supported the Charter was the persevering and
consistent reformer, Joseph Hume. I believe that no man was ever more
preserving in seeking to carry the principles of reform into every
department of the state than was Mr. Hume. And certainly, of all men,
whose efforts to free the working classes from the enthrallment of
the infamous combination laws, he is the most worthy of honour, and
of their grateful remembrance.
(2)
Samuel Smiles, Autobiography, 1905
From the time he took his seat in Parliament, down to the year 1841,
when he offered himself to the Leeds constituency, Joseph Hume distinguished
himself by his indefatigable industry. There is scarcely a page of
the parliamentary register which does not contain some record of his
sayings and doings. In the finances, the revenue, the excise, the
public accounts, the army and navy, the representation of the people,
the removal of religious disabilities, he was always at work. He was
the most regular attender, the most consistent voter, the most laborious
investigator, the most active and useful member, perhaps, who ever
sat in Parliament.
Radicals
in Parliament: Sir Francis Burdett,
Joseph
Hume & Daniel O'Connell by John
Doyle (1834)
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