William Wells was an English Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1852 to 1857 and from 1868 to 1874.
Background
Wells was the son of Captain William Wells, Registered Nurse 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.
Education
He was educated at Harrow School and at Balliol College, Oxford, and served in the 1st Life Guards from 1839 until 1843.
Career
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 Justice of the Peace and a Deputy Lieutenant for Kent and Huntingdonshire.
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.
On 3 August 1853, the committee ruled that Glover had not been duly qualified, and that his election was void. A by-election was held on 11 August 1853, when Wells stood again, but was defeated by the Conservative candidate Henry Edwards.
Wells contested the City of Peterborough at the 1852 general election, where he was the third-placed of the three Liberal candidates.
Wells remained an Member of Parliament for Peterborough and held the seat until the 1874 general election, when he did not stand again. He was appointed High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire for 1875. He was also a keen agriculturalist and President of the Royal Agricultural Society in 1880.
Wells died at the age of 71.
They had no children.
Membership
16th United Kingdom Parliament. 20th United Kingdom Parliament]
At the 1852 general election Wells was elected as a member of parliament (Member of Parliament) for the borough of Beverley.