Charles Pelham Villiers
The relentless parliamentary warrior whose decades-long crusade against food taxes helped feed a hungry, industrializing Britain.
1802–1898 (age 96)·British lawyer and politician·Birthday: January 3
Biography
Charles Pelham Villiers was a political institution unto himself. Elected to Parliament in 1835 as a radical reformer, he occupied a seat in the House of Commons for an astonishing 63 years, a record that still stands. His life's work was the destruction of the Corn Laws, tariffs that kept bread prices artificially high to protect landowners. Year after year, he introduced motions for repeal, becoming the parliamentary spearhead for the Anti-Corn Law League and its fiery orator, John Bright. His persistence kept the issue alive in Westminster, grinding down opposition through sheer endurance. When famine struck Ireland and political tides turned, the laws were finally scrapped in 1846. Villiers, ever the reformer, later served in cabinet, overseeing poor law reform. He remained an active MP into his nineties, a living link between the age of reform and the dawn of the twentieth century, his career a monument to the power of dogged, principled stamina.
#1 When Charles Was Born
The biggest hits of 1802
Charles's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1802Born
1807Started school
1815Became a teenager
1818Could drive
1820Could vote
1823Turned 21
1832Turned 30
1842Turned 40
1852Turned 50
1862Turned 60
President: Abraham Lincoln
1872Turned 70
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1882Turned 80
First electrical power plant opens in New York
President: Chester A. Arthur
1898Died at 96
Spanish-American War; US emerges as a world power
President: William McKinley
Key Achievements
- Served as a Member of Parliament for 63 years (1835–1898), the longest continuous service in British history.
- Was the parliamentary leader of the campaign to repeal the Corn Laws, introducing annual motions for repeal from 1838 to 1846.
- Won his final election at the age of 93, making him the oldest person ever elected to the British Parliament.
Did You Know?
He was the elder brother of George Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon, who served as Foreign Secretary.
He was present in the House of Commons for the debates on the Great Reform Act of 1832, three years before he was elected.
He never married and lived for much of his life in chambers at the Albany, an exclusive apartment building in Piccadilly.
“The people's bread must be free from the tax of the monopolist.”
