William Dickinson (1771–1837)
William Dickinson (1771–1837) was an English politician, in parliament from 1796 to 1831. Life. From a Bristol merchant family who were slave-owners in Jamaica, he was the eldest son of William Dickinson, also a Member of Parliament, and his wife Philippa Fuller, daughter of Stephen Fuller who was a London West India merchant and Jamaica agent. He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford where he matriculated in 1789, graduating B.A. in 1793, M.A. in 1795. He came into the family estate at Kingweston on his father's death. Dickinson entered the House of  Commons in 1796 for , as a supporter of William Pitt the Younger. He stood successfully for in 1802, and was a Lord of the Admiralty in the period 1804 to 1806. In 1806 he was elected for , a seat he held until 1831, and moved his support generally to the Whig opposition. He came to oppose Catholic emancipation. According to the "Legacies of British Slave-Ownership" at the University College London, Dickinson was awarded a payment as a slave trader in the aftermath of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 with the Slave Compensation Act 1837. The British Government took out  a £15 million loan (worth £1.43 billion in 2020) with interest from Nathan Mayer Rothschild and Moses Montefiore which was subsequently paid off by the British taxpayers (ending in 2015). Dickinson was associated with five different claims, but two of those were in the capacity of executor. For the three plantations he owned (Appleton Estate, Barton Isles Pen, and Pepper Pen & Bona Vista) in Jamaica, he received £11,978 payment at the time. Family. Dickinson married in 1803 Sophia Smith, daughter of Samuel Smith MP of Woodhall Park; they had three sons and two daughters. The children included