Background
Powell was the son of the Review Benjamin Powell of Wigan and his wife Anne Wade, daughter of the Review
Powell was the son of the Review Benjamin Powell of Wigan and his wife Anne Wade, daughter of the Review
He was educated at Uppingham School, Sedbergh School and Street John"s College, Cambridge He was called to the bar at Inner Temple in 1853, and practised on the Northern Circuit.
He was a Justice of the Peace for Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. He was re-elected in 1865, and held the seat until his defeat at the 1868 general election
He was next elected Member of Parliament for Northern Division of West Riding, Yorkshire in 1872 but lost the seat in the 1874 general election. He was elected as Member of Parliament for Wigan at a by-election in January 1881, but was unseated on account of corrupt practices at the election.
He stood again for Wigan in the 1885 general election and was elected.
He held the seat until the January 1910 general election. Powell was a benefactor to Wigan and Sedbergh Schools and was chairman of the governors of Sedbergh for over 35 years.
Powell died at Horton Old Hall, Yorkshire at the age of 84 and a statue of him stands in Mesnes Park in the centre of the town of Wigan. Powell married Anne Gregson of Toxteth Park, Liverpool in 1858.
He had no heir to inherit the baronetcy which became extinct on his death.
Ernest Gillick"s statue of Sir Francis Powell stands in Mesnes Park, Wigan. Erected in his home town in 1910, the statue is made from bronze, which after turning green in colour due to lack of treatment, was restored in 2012. The statue shows Powell sat in his office chair, deep in thought.
lieutenant also shows his right leg crossing in front of his left, which makes his right shoe protrude out further than the statue"s base.
lieutenant has long been a long-standing superstition that the rubbing of Powell"s protruding shoe will bring a person good luck. Local belief in this tale is so strong that the shoe of the statue was never allowed to turn green due to the constant rubbing by locals and tourists.
20th United Kingdom Parliament. 23rd United Kingdom Parliament. 24th United Kingdom Parliament.
25th United Kingdom Parliament.
26th United Kingdom Parliament. 27th United Kingdom Parliament.
28th United Kingdom Parliament]
In February 1863 Powell was elected at a by-election as a Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) for Cambridge but lost the seat in the 1868 general election. He was a member of the Royal Commission on Sanitation and was created a baronet of Horton Old Hall in 1892.
He was elected a member of the council of Selwyn College, Cambridge, in June 1902, and was President of the Royal Statistical Society from 1904 to 1905.