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Sir William Beckford (December 1709 – 21 June 1770) was a Jamaican-born planter and Whig politician who twice served as Lord Mayor of London in 1762 and 1769. One of the best known political figures in Georgian era London, his vast wealth derived from the sugar plantations and hundreds of slaves he owned in the British colony of ...
Jun 17, 2024 · William Beckford (baptized December 19, 1709, Jamaica, British West Indies—died June 21, 1770, London, England) was a gentleman merchant, member of Parliament, and lord mayor of London (1762–63, 1769–70) who was particularly noted as a pioneer of the radical movement.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
William Thomas Beckford (29 September 1760 – 2 May 1844) was an English novelist, art critic, planter and politician. He was reputed at one stage to be England's richest commoner . The son of William Beckford and Maria Hamilton, daughter of the Hon. George Hamilton , he served as a Member of Parliament for Wells in 1784–1790 and ...
Oct 30, 2020 · After returning to Britain in the 1740s, he became a prominent British politician: he was MP for the City of London and held the post of Lord Mayor of London twice, first in 1762 and then in 1769.
Feb 17, 2011 · William Beckford. Slave plantation owner, lord mayor, politician. William Beckford was born in Jamaica, the son of a leading sugar plantation owner who, at his death in 1735, was the...
The sheer speed of Beckford's political ascent in Britain has impressed both contemporaries and historians. With only a limited familiarity with British politics, he gained a parliamentary seat in 1747 (which he held for the rest of his life), an aldermanic gown in the City in 1752, and became MP for London in 1754.
Summary of activity. William Beckford came from a family which had made their fortunes from plantations in Jamaica and elsewhere, all of them worked by enslaved people. His great-grandfather, Peter Beckford (1673–1735), travelled out to Jamaica in 1661, where he bought the first plantation.
