William Wells

Who was William Wells?

William Wells was an English Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1852 to 1857 and from 1868 to 1874.

Wells was the son of Captain William Wells, R.N. and his wife Lady Elizabeth Proby, daughter of John Proby, 1st Earl of Carysfort, and grandson of Vice-Admiral Thomas Wells, of Holme, whose father, William, had inherited the estate from his wife's uncle, Thomas Truman, in 1768. He was educated at Harrow School and at Balliol College, Oxford, and served in the 1st Life Guards from 1839 until 1843. In 1826 he inherited Holmewood Hall in Huntingdonshire from his father. He also inherited the Redleaf estate in Kent from his great-uncle William.

He was a J.P. and a Deputy Lieutenant for Kent and Huntingdonshire.

At the 1852 general election Wells was elected as a member of parliament for the borough of Beverley. He held the seat until his defeat in the 1857 by the Liberal Edward Glover. An election petition was lodged by Wells on the grounds that Glover was not duly qualified, because he did not meet the property-holding requirements. The issue had been raised during the election, and handbills circulated to that effect, but Glover had denied the allegations.