Sir William Molesworth, 8th Bt (1810-1855), Radical politician

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Studied at Cambridge and in Germany and Italy. He returned to Britain in 1831, during the parliamentary struggle over reform and was elected as an MP in 1832. Declaring himself a radical, he championed national education, free trade, the secret ballot, removal of property qualifications for MPs and abolition of the House of Lords. As a radical baronet, he attracted the attentions of George Grote MP, a City banker, and his wife, Harriet, a political activist. He was recruited to their circle; through them he met John Stuart Mill and in 1835 agreed to finance the launch of the London Review and its merger with the Westminster Review. He was a co-founder of the Reform Club.