Alexander Beresford Hope

Alexander James Beresford Beresford Hope PC (25 January 1820-20 October 1887), known as Alexander Hope until 1854 (and also known as A. J. B. Hope until 1854 and as A. J. B. Beresford Hope from 1854 onwards), was a British author and Conservative politician.

Beresford Hope was the third and youngest son of Thomas Hope, the writer and patron of art, and his wife the Hon. Louisa Beresford, daughter of William Beresford, 1st Baron Decies, younger son of George Beresford, 1st Marquess of Waterford. The Hope family was of Scottish descent but had been settled in The Netherlands for many years, where they had a successful mercantile and banking business, but had returned to Britain after French troops occupied the country in 1795. Beresford Hope was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. His father died in 1831 and his mother married as her second husband her first cousin General William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford. In 1854 he inherited his stepfather's estates, including Bedgebury Park, Kent, and Beresford Hall, Staffordshire, and assumed by Royal license the additional surname of Beresford.

He sat as Member of Parliament for Maidstone from 1841 to 1852 and from 1857 to 1859. He unsuccessfully contested Cambridge University in 1859 and Stoke-upon-Trent in 1862, but was successfully returned for the former constituency in 1865. From 1868 until his death he was one of two representatives for Cambridge University. From 1865 he sat as an independent Conservative. He vehemently opposed the Reform Act of 1867 proposed by Benjamin Disraeli, nicknaming Disraeli "the Asian mystery" (referring to Disraeli's Jewish origins). Disraeli retorted by alluding to Beresford Hope's "Batavian graces" (in reference to his family's Dutch origins). He never held ministerial office but was sworn of the Privy Council in 1880.

Beresford Hope's most prominent public feature was his ardent support for the Church of England. A very wealthy man, he purchased St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury, in 1844, with the intention that it should function as a college for missionary clergy, and he also constructed the church of All Saints, Margaret Street, London, at his own cost. He was also a writer on archaeological, architectural, ecclesiastical and artistic subjects and was President of the Royal Institute of British Architects from 1865 to 1867 and a trustee of the British Museum. His works include:

Beresford Hope married Lady Mildred Arabella Charlotte, daughter of James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury, and sister of Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, in 1842. They had three sons and seven daughters. Lady Mildred was a leading figure in London society for many years. She died in March 1881. Beresford Hope survived her by six years and died in October 1887, aged 67.

In his lifetime Beresford Hope was active in the funding Canon Nathaniel Woodard's national network of Woodard Schools.

Works

* "Essays" (1844)
* "English cathedrals in the XIX. century" (1861)
* "The social and political bearings of the American disruption" (1863)
* "Cathedrals in their missionary aspects" (1872)
* "Hints towards peace in ceremonial matters" (1874)
* "Worship in the church of England" (1874)
* "Strictly tied-up" (1880)
* "The Brandreth" (1882)
* "Worship and order" (1883)

References

* [http://www.angeltowns.com/town/peerage/ Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page]
* [http://www.thepeerage.com/ www.thepeerage.com]
* [http://www.americancivilwar.org.uk/news_batavian-grace-alexander-beresford-hope_13.htm/ Article on Alexander Beresford Hope at americancivilwar.org]
*Stephen, Sir Leslie; Lee, Sir Sidney (editors). "The Dictionary of National Biography. From the Earliest Times to 1900. Volume XI, Harris-Hovenden". Oxford University Press.