William Chichele Plowden

Who was William Chichele Plowden?

Sir William Chichele Plowden KCSI was a Civil Servant and Member of the Legislative Council in India, and subsequently a Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1886 to 1892.

Plowden was the son of William Plowden FRS MP of Ewhurst Park and his wife Jane Annette Campbell, daughter of Edward Campbell. He was educated at Harrow School and Haileybury College. He was in the Bengal Civil Service as Census Commissioner for India and Secretary of the Board of Revenue of the North West Provinces. He was also a member of the Legislative Council in Calcutta. In 1886 he was knighted as KCSI.

In the 1886 general election, Plowden was elected Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton West and held the seat until 1892.

Plowden married Emily Frances Ann Bass, the eldest daughter of Michael Thomas Bass MP for Derby and his wife Eliza Jane Arden. Emily was the sister of Lord Burton and Hamar Alfred Bass. Plowden and his wife lived at Aston Rowant House, Oxfordshire and 5 Park Crescent, Portland Place. They had a daughter Margaret who married Hubert Mostyn, 7th Lord Vaux.