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HUME, JOSEPH (1777-1855)

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 884 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HUME, See also:JOSEPH (1777-1855) , See also:British politician, was See also:born on the 22nd of See also:January 1777, of humble parents, at See also:Montrose, See also:Scotland. After completing his course of medical study at the university of See also:Edinburgh he sailed in 1797 for See also:India, where he was attached as surgeon to a See also:regiment; and his knowledge of the native See also:tongues and his capacity for business threw open to him the lucrative offices of interpreter and See also:commissary-See also:general. In 1802, on the See also:eve of See also:Lord See also:Lake's Mahratta See also:war, his chemical knowledge enabled him to render a See also:signal service to the See also:administration by making available a large quantity of See also:gunpowder which See also:damp had spoiled. In ,8o8, on the restoration of See also:peace, he resigned all his See also:civil appointments, and returned See also:home in the See also:possession of a See also:fortune of 40,000. Between 18o8 and 1811 he travelled much both in See also:England and the See also:south of See also:Europe, and in 1812 published a See also:blank See also:verse See also:translation of the Inferno. In 1812 he See also:purchased a seat in See also:parliament for See also:Weymouth and voted as a Tory. When upon the See also:dissolution of parliament the See also:patron refused to return him he brought an See also:action and re-covered See also:part of his See also:money. Six years elapsed before he again entered the See also:House, and during that See also:interval he had made the acquaintance and imbibed the doctrines of See also:James See also:Mill and the philosophical reformers of the school of See also:Bentham. He had joined his efforts to those of See also:Francis See also:Place, of See also:Westminster, and other philanthropists, to relieve and improve the See also:condition of the working classes, labouring especially to establish See also:schools for them on the Lancasterian See also:system, and promoting the formation of savings See also:banks. In 1818, soon after his See also:marriage with See also:Miss See also:Burnley, the daughter of an See also:East India director, he was returned to parliament as member for the Border burghs. He was afterwards successively elected for See also:Middlesex (183o), See also:Kilkenny (1837) and for the Montrose burghs (1842), in the service of which See also:constituency he died. From the date of his re-entering the House Hume became the self-elected See also:guardian of the public See also:purse, by challenging and bringing to a See also:direct See also:vote every single See also:item of public See also:expenditure.

In 1820 he secured the See also:

appointment of a See also:committee to See also:report on the expense of See also:collecting the See also:revenue. He was incessantly on his legs in committee, and became a name for an opposition bandog who gave chancellors of the See also:exchequer no peace. He undoubtedly exercised a check on extravagance, and he did real service by helping to abolish the sinking fund. It was he who caused the word " See also:retrenchment " to be added to the See also:Radical See also:programme " peace and reform." He carried on a successful warfare against the old See also:combination See also:laws that hampered workmen and favoured masters; he brought about the See also:repeal of the laws prohibiting the export of machinery and of the See also:act preventing workmen from going abroad. He constantly See also:pro-tested against flogging in the See also:army, the See also:impressment of sailors and imprisonment for See also:debt. He took up the question of See also:light-houses and harbours; in the former he secured greater efficiency, in the latter he prevented useless expenditure. Apart from his pertinacious fight for See also:economy Hume was not always fortunate in his See also:political activity. He was conspicuous in the agitation raised by the so-called See also:Orange See also:plot to set aside See also:King See also:William IV. in favour of the See also:duke of See also:Cumberland (1835 and 1836). His action as trustee for the notorious See also:Greek See also:Loan in 1824 was at least not delicate, and was the ground of charges of downright dishonesty. He died on the 2oth of See also:February 1855• A Memorial of Hume was published by his son Joseph Burnley Hume (See also:London, 1855).

End of Article: HUME, JOSEPH (1777-1855)

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