Colchester Charles Abbot

Colchester, Charles Abbot, Lord (1757-1829), an English member of Parliament and Speaker of the House of Commons. He was the son of the rector of Colchester and half-brother of Jeremy Bentham. He was educated at Westminster and Christ Church, and he gained at Oxford the Chancellor's medal and the Vinerian scholarship. He practised at the bar for a few years, and in 1795 received a post in the King's Bench. In the same year he was returned to Parliament for Helston. He soon became noted as a parliamentary reformer, and was the chief cause of the taking of the first census in 1801. In that year he became Chief Secretary for Ireland, and in the next year he was chosen Speaker, a post which he held till compelled by illness to retire in 1817. He was raised to the peerage in response to an address of the House of Commons.