William Emerson Kendrick Laslett MP (bef. 1799 - 1884)

Born before 14 Oct 1799 in Worcester, Worcestershire, England

Husband of Maria (Carr) Laslett — married 3 Feb 1842 in Aldingbourne, Sussex, England

Died 26 Jan 1884 after age 84 in Abberton, Worcestershire, England

Biography

William Laslett MP is Notable.

William Laslett MP was born in Worcestershire, England.

William Emmerson Kendrick Laslett (1799-1884) was an English lawyer, landowner, and Member of Parliament.

Christened in Worcester on 14 October 1799, he was the eldest son of Thomas Emmerson Laslett, a Worcester banker, and his wife Sophia Jenkins. After qualifying, he practised law in Worcester and by 1829 had acquired Abberton Hall in Worcestershire, which was his home for the rest of his life.

After the death in 1841 of Robert James Carr, the bishop of Worcester, which left his eldest daughter Maria Carr homeless and penniless, Laslett offered to marry her. Following the wedding at Aldingbourne on 3 February 1842, she went to live with Laslett and his unmarried sister Sophia at Abberton. Relations between the three deteriorated and Maria ran away, living in Scotland under an assumed name. In time, Laslett accepted the situation and agreed to a formal separation. Details of this unhappy interlude were used by Ellen Wood in her 1861 novel “East Lynne”.

Living alone with no family and spending little, he gave much of his money in private and public charity. At his death in 1884, his estate of 13,000 pounds, which would be worth about 1.2 million pounds today, went mostly to his wife's nephew, the Reverend Robert James Baker.

Sources

• Wikipedia:William Laslett
• History of Parliament http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1832-1868/member/laslett-william-emerson-1801-1884
• Hansard https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/mr-william-laslett/index.html