PETO (Sir Samuel Morton, 1809-1889, Baptist Philanthropist, Civil Engineer and Politician, 1st Bart., Builder of Nelson's Column)

Autograph Letter Signed headed "Burial Bill" to Rev Edwin Paxton HOOD (1820–1885, Nonconformist and Author) saying he is "now quite out of the World of Monuments. I will be much obliged if you can spare five minutes to write me ... you will recollect I brought in the first Bill many years since ...", he explains how he got a first reading in the house "& reference to a Select Committee. This was granted. Mr Gladstone ... was on the Committee. I found a real fear & objection to some ... components of Holy Scripture - Prayers & Hymns & it came thus from the Committee to the House ... I felt I had got a good deal in getting a Select Committee to go thus far ..." and he continues at length about the bill and its passage and concludes that "a Service is all he should go for. Any personal eulogy is out of place, any practical lesson from the life of the deceased is later drawn in the pulpit ..." he ends with an apology for the long letter and a repetition of his request for Hood's opinion, 4 sides 4to., The Hollands, Yeovil, 10th February

Peto served for two decades as a Member of Parliament. He was elected a Liberal Member for Norwich in 1847 to 1854, for Finsbury from 1859 to 1865, and for Bristol from 1865 to 1868. During this time he was one of the most prominent figures in public life. He helped to make a guarantee towards the financing of The Great Exhibition of 1851, backing Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace.

Item Date:  1876

Stock No:  38780      £375

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