The Creevey Papers
Samuel Whitbread to Thomas Creevey, 31 March 1809
“Southill, March 31, 1809.
“. . . Do pray tell me what is said about things in
general, and in particular about myself, for I fear I am but roughly handled in
a part of the world just now. . . . What do you think of
the Westminster meeting? I cannot say how much I was surprized by Burdett’s unprovoked attack upon the
great agriculturists, who are, almost without exception, real friends of
Liberty and Reform—none more so
than
the head of them, the Duke of Bedford, who
thinks parliamentary reform indispensably necessary to our existence. . . . I
am to-day working hard at the local Militia; to-morrow I intend to go
foxhunting, and on Sunday I hope to be regaled by an answer from you. . .
.”
Sir Francis Burdett, fifth baronet (1770-1844)
Whig MP for Westminster (1807-1837) who was imprisoned on political charges in 1810 and
again in 1820; in the 1830s he voted with the Conservatives.