Henry Peek

{{Infobox emblem

|image = Peek Achievement.png

|shield = Azure an estoile Argent, in chief three crescents of the last.

|crest = Two hazel nuts, slipped proper.

|motto = Le Maître Vient (The Master Comes){{cite book |title=Debrett's peerage, baronetage, knightage, and companionage |date=1903 |publisher=London : Dean & Son |url=https://archive.org/details/b24883797}}

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Sir Henry William Peek, 1st Baronet DL (26 February 1825 – 26 August 1898){{cite web|url=http://www.leighrayment.com/baronetage/baronetsP1.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501225150/http://www.leighrayment.com/baronetage/baronetsP1.htm|archive-date=1 May 2008|title=Baronetcies beginning with "P" (part 1)|work=Leigh Rayment's Baronetage pages|url-status=usurped|accessdate=23 April 2009}} was an importer of spices, tea and other groceries, philanthropist and Conservative Member of Parliament (MP).

Parents, marriage and residence

Image:The_main_house,_Rousdon_estate_(geograph_3173397).jpg

Image:Wimbledon House Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882.png

Peek was born in 1825 to James Peek of Watcombe, Torquay, Devon and Elizabeth, his first wife.{{Cite web |title=Peek, Sir Henry William, (26 Feb. 1825–26 Aug. 1898), JP, DL |url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-189792 |access-date=2007-12-01 |website=WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO |language=en |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u189792 |archive-date=3 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203000553/https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-189792 |url-status=live }}

He married in 1848, Margaret Maria (d 1884), second daughter of William Edgar of Clapham Common, Surrey.

Wimbledon House, Wimbledon Village stood near the west end of its short High Street, about {{convert|1/2|mi}} west of the parish church. It was probably built about the middle of the 18th century. It housed Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé in some of his final years (died 1818), MP Joseph Marryat then after a time Peek. It was demolished about 1900-1902 passing to a building syndicate.{{Cite book |last=William Abraham Bartlett |url=http://archive.org/details/historyandantiq00bartgoog |title=The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Wimbledon, Surrey: With ... |date=1865 |publisher=Simpkin, Marshall, & co .; [etc., etc.] |others=Harvard University |pages=144-167 |language=English}}

Political work

At the 1865 general election he was an unsuccessful candidate in the Eastern division of Surrey but a new dual-member constituency was created along its western belt (Mid Surrey) under the Second Reform Act, where he was elected in 1868 MP. He was re-elected in his seat until his resignation in 1884.{{cite book

|last=Craig

|first=F. W. S.

|authorlink= F. W. S. Craig

|title=British parliamentary election results 1832–1885

|origyear=1977

|edition= 2nd

|year=1989

|publisher= Parliamentary Research Services

|location=Chichester

|isbn= 0-900178-26-4

|pages=465, 467

}}

Hansard shows he made 93 speeches or questions in Parliament, from 1869 to 1884, contributing in each year.{{Cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/sir-henry-peek/index.html|title=Sir Henry Peek (Hansard)|access-date=2 December 2019|archive-date=15 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115180924/https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/sir-henry-peek/index.html|url-status=live}}

Title and legacy

He was made a baronet on 13 May 1874, of Rousdon in the County of Devon.

Sir Henry's probate was resworn in 1900 as leaving assets of {{GBP|418584.8|1900|round=-5|about=yes|long=no}} and his son died the next year.{{Cite web |title=Calendar of Probates and Administrations |url=https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=peek&yearOfDeath=1898&page=2#calendar |access-date=2 December 2019 |archive-date=8 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408132240/https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=peek&yearOfDeath=1898&page=2#calendar |url-status=dead }} His son in turn died in 1927, with assets of £172,685 and the baronetcy reached the fifth generation in 2004.

In Surrey Cranleigh's old Peek Institute was founded by Peek in memory of his late wife, namely a club, with reading and billiard rooms, and a library.{{Cite web |title=Parishes: Cranleigh |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/surrey/vol3/pp86-92 |access-date=2022-04-08 |website=British History Online |archive-date=30 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210630235919/https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/surrey/vol3/pp86-92 |url-status=live }}