{{short description|English cloth manufacturer, banker, and politician (1765–1847)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Joseph Cripps | constituency_MP = Cirencester | parliament = British | predecessor = Robert Preston | successor = William Cripps | term_start = 1806 | term_end = 1812 | term_start2 = 1818 | term_end2 = 1841 | birth_date = {{birth date|1765|3|10|df=y}} | birth_place = Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England | death_date = {{death date|1847|1|8|1765|3|10|df=y}} | death_place = Ashcroft, near Cirencester, Gloucestershire | resting_place = St. Catherine’s Chapel, Church of St John the Baptist, Cirencester | party = Tory → Conservative | occupation = Cloth manufacturer, banker, brewer, politician | spouse = * Elizabeth Harrison (m. 1786; d. 1799) * Dorothea Harrison (m. 1801) | children = At least eight (including William Cripps) | relatives = See below }}
'''Joseph Cripps''' (10 March 1765 – 8 January 1847) 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.<ref name="HoP">{{cite web |title=CRIPPS, Joseph (1765–1847), of Coxwell Street, Cirencester, Glos. |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/cripps-joseph-1765-1847 |website=History of Parliament Online |access-date=6 September 2025}}</ref> He also served as governor of the Van Diemen's Land Company and was described at his death as leaving an “enormous” fortune.<ref name="LawTimes">{{cite news |title=Joseph Cripps, Esq. |work=The Law Times |date=29 October 1859 |page=62}}</ref>
== Early life and business == Cripps was born in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, the son of Joseph Cripps, a cloth manufacturer, and his wife Hester (née Hall).<ref name="HoP"/> He inherited his father’s manufactory, acquired a second mill, and diversified into brewing and banking.<ref name="HistoryCounty">{{cite book |title=The Parliamentary History of the County of Gloucester |location=Gloucester |publisher=Privately Printed |year=1898 |pages=137–138}}</ref> His mills also made use of workhouse labour in the early 19th century.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Ryland-Epton |title=Cirencester Workhouse under the Old Poor Law |journal=Transactions of the Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society |volume=135 |pages=225–236 |year=2017}}</ref>
== 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.<ref name="HoP"/> In 1792 he was also appointed commissioner of the Court of Requests for the Seven Hundreds of Cirencester.<ref name="HistoryCounty"/>
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.<ref name="NPG">{{cite web |title=Joseph Cripps |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/personExtended/mp01105/joseph-cripps?tab=biography |website=National Portrait Gallery |access-date=6 September 2025}}</ref> The schooner ''Joseph Cripps'' sailed between Hobart, Launceston, and Port Adelaide in the 1840s.<ref>{{cite web |title=January to June arrivals at Port Adelaide |url=https://www.theshipslist.com/ships/australia/jan2june1840.shtml |website=The Ships List |access-date=6 September 2025}}</ref>
== Parliamentary career == Cripps was elected MP for Cirencester in 1806, reflecting demands for a local representative rather than London merchant Robert Preston.<ref name="HoP"/> Narrowly defeated in 1812, he returned unopposed in 1818 and held the seat until 1841, when his son William succeeded him.<ref name="HoP"/> Though a Tory, he often supported moderate reforms.<ref name="HoP"/>
== 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.{{citation needed|date=September 2025}}
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.<ref name="HoP"/>
== Legacy == Cripps’s obituary in the ''Law Times'' noted his “enormous” fortune, the product of extensive commercial, banking, and political activity.<ref name="LawTimes"/> He is regarded as the progenitor of numerous notable descendants:
* His son, William Cripps (MP), was MP for Cirencester and a Junior Lord of the Treasury under Sir Robert Peel.<ref name="HoP"/> * His grandson William Harrison Cripps (1850-1923), a prominent surgeon * His grandson Charles Cripps, 1st Baron Parmoor (1852-1941), politician * His grandson Wilfred Joseph Cripps (1841-1903), antiquarian and expert on antique silver plate
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/cripps-joseph-1765-1847 History of Parliament Online: Joseph Cripps] * [https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/personExtended/mp01105/joseph-cripps National Portrait Gallery: Joseph Cripps]
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Category:1765 births Category:1847 deaths
Category:English industrialists Category:People from Cirencester Category:English bankers Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Cirencester Category:Tory MPs (pre-1834) Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:UK MPs 1806–1807 Category:UK MPs 1807–1812 Category:UK MPs 1818–1820 Category:UK MPs 1820–1826 Category:UK MPs 1826–1830 Category:UK MPs 1830–1831 Category:UK MPs 1832–1835 Category:UK MPs 1835–1837 Category:UK MPs 1837–1841