The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-05-03 00:00:00

DEATH OF MR, N. T. BASS.

The death of Mr. Michael Thomas Bass, formerly
member for Derby, and the held of the vast estab-
lishment associated with his Mime, occurred at his
residence, Rangemoor, Burton-on-Trent, on Tuesday
evening. For a fortnight past it has been feared that
no other but a fatal termination could be expected to
his illness. '.;c

Mr. Bass was one of the few eminent men among
his contemporaries who first saw the light before the
commencement Of the present century. lie was born
at Burton-on-Trent in 1799, and had passed by some
months the great age of 84 years, Educated at the
grammar school of his native town, Mr. Bass was
afterwards trained to that business which enormously
extended under his sagacity and enterprise, and which
eventually made his name known throughout the civi-
lized world.

Mr. Bass's business capabilities, together With the
important position he had already acquired in his
native county, led to his being requested to come for-
ward as a candidate for Derby in the Liberal interest.
For this town he was first returned in 1847, and he
continued to represent it uninterruptedly in Parlia-
ment for a period of upwards of thirty-five years,
retiring from the representation in 1883. Mr. Bass
was a stanch and consistent Liberal, and the occa-
sions were rare indeed during his career when he
found himself at variance with the leaders of his
party. He was known for his assiduous i?,ttention to
his Parliamentary duties; and he had that rare
virtue of never rising in the House of Commons unless
he had something to say. He was no orator, but his
personal character had great weight, and there were
few men on either side of the House who commanded
in an equal degree the respect alike of political oppo-
nents and friends. There were some questions, espe-
cially those affecting the working classes, in which he
took a keen interest. Thus, in 1866, he requested
the co-operation of Professor Leoni Levi in instituting
a wide and methodical inquiry into the earnings of
the working classes in the United Kingdom. Mr.
'Bass had been struck with the great advance in the
rates of wages and the increasing influence of
the working classes. On the former subject
he differed from Mr. Gladstone, who, in a speech
at Liverpool, had roundly placed the total
amount of the annual income of the work-
ing classes at £250,000,000. Mr. Bass believed
it to be much greater. Professor Levi collected a
mass of valuable information concerning all classes of
workers and their labours, and compiled statistics,
from which it appeared that the total income of the
workers in various occupations in the United King-
dom was abbut £418,000,000. In regard to another
matter, that of street music in the metropolis, Mr.
Bass earned the thanks of every Londoner. He in-
troduced a greatly needed bill under which house-
holders may require street musicians or singers to
quit the neighbourhood of their houses, and received
the acknowledgments of all ranks of the community
for his action. Of recent years Mr. Bass's voice was
rarely heard in the House of Commons, but his regu-
larity of attendance was proverbial, and the division
boll seldom rang without finding him ready to tender
his vote.
Mr. Baas was almost as widely known for his
beneficence as he was for his wealth and his business.
Among other proofs of this, we may remind our
readers that he built and endowed a new church at
Burton, which is regarded as one of the finest of
modern structures in the Midland counties. He also
raised a smaller church near his residence, Range-
more, a chapel of ease, and Sunday schools) together
with an institute and reading-rooms for the use of
the working classes of Burton, at a total cost of
£BO,OOO. He further presented the town of Derby-
with a large recreation ground and public swim-
ming baths at a cost of £12,000, as well as a free
library upon which the sum of £25,000 was expended.
He was, moreover, equally liberal in the matter of his
private charities. He was warmly interested in the
cause of railway servants, and showed this interest in
a variety of ways, one of them being in the founding
of the Railway Servants' Orphanage at Derby.
Mr. Bass, who was a Deputy-Lieutenant for the
counties of Derby and Stafford, married, in 1835, the
daughter of Major Samuel Arden, of Longcroft-hall,
Staffordshire. He leaves two sons, both of whom are
members of the House of Commons. Mr. Bass's
genial and kindly nature impressed itself upon all
with whom he came in contact, and his loss will bo
greatly felt by a very wide circle of friends not con-
fined to one complexion of politics.