William Downe Gillon

Listed as a 'West Indian' MP by Judd and first cousin once-removed and heir of John Gillon (q.v.). He inherited an annuity from John Gillon and a moiety of his property as tenant-for-life: see the entry for the latter.

1. The History of Parliament entry makes no reference to him having any West Indian interests and but notes that on the 17 February 1832 in the Commons 'he likened the plight of many agricultural labourers to that of West Indian slaves, claiming that in Sussex "paupers are frequently harnessed together to draw loads"'. The estate and enslaved people of which and of whom he was co-heir as tenant-for-life were sold between 1823 and 1826.

2. Adm. Fell.-Com. (age 18) at TRINITY, Feb. 12, 1819. S. of [Lieut.-Col.] Andrew [and Mary Anne, dau. of William Downe, of Downe Hall, Dorset]. B. [Aug. 31, 1801], at Wallhouse, W. Lothian. School, Richmond, Yorks. (Mr Tate). Matric. Lent, 1819. Of Wallhouse, West Lothian, and of Hurstmonceaux, Sussex. J.P. and D.L. M.P. for the Lanark burghs, 1831-2, and for Falkirk burghs, 1832-41. Married, Oct. 24, 1820, Ellen Eliza, dau. of John Corke Scott, of Synton, Roxburgh, and had issue. Died Oct. 7, 1846. (Burke, L.G., 1925.)

1. Entry by David R. Fisher in History of Parliament online; Gerrit P. Judd IV, Members of Parliament 1734-1832 (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1955).

2. Ancestry.com, Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900 [database online]