Joseph Cripps


Joseph Cripps was a prominent English cloth manufacturer, banker, brewer, and long-serving Member of Parliament for Cirencester. Despite his Tory affiliation, he was known for independent-mindedness and support of moderate reform. He also served as governor of the Van Diemen's Land Company and was described at his death as leaving an “enormous” fortune.

Early life and business

Cripps was born in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, the son of Joseph Cripps, a cloth manufacturer, and his wife Hester. He inherited his father’s manufactory, acquired a second mill, and diversified into brewing and banking. His mills also made use of workhouse labour in the early 19th century.

Civic and colonial roles

He was active in local affairs, serving as captain of the Cirencester Volunteers in 1798 and rising to lieutenant colonel commanding the corps by 1803. In 1792 he was also appointed commissioner of the Court of Requests for the Seven Hundreds of Cirencester.
From 1825 he was a director of the Van Diemen’s Land Company, becoming deputy governor in 1829 and governor from about 1838 to 1842. The schooner Joseph Cripps sailed between Hobart, Launceston, and Port Adelaide in the 1840s.

Parliamentary career

Cripps was elected MP for Cirencester in 1806, reflecting demands for a local representative rather than London merchant Robert Preston. Narrowly defeated in 1812, he returned unopposed in 1818 and held the seat until 1841, when his son William succeeded him. Though a Tory, he often supported moderate reforms.

Family

Cripps married Elizabeth Harrison in 1786. They had five children before her death in 1799. In 1801 he married her sister Dorothea Harrison, and they had eight more children.
He died in January 1847 at Ashcroft, near Cirencester, and was buried in the family vault at St. Catherine’s Chapel in the Church of St. John the Baptist, Cirencester.

Legacy

Cripps’s obituary in the Law Times noted his “enormous” fortune, the product of extensive commercial, banking, and political activity. He is regarded as the progenitor of numerous notable descendants: