fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

Ralph Bernal (2 October 1783[1] or 2 October 1784[2] – 26 August 1854) was a British Whig[3] politician and art collector.

His parents, Jacob Israel Bernal and wife Leah da Silva,[4] were Sephardi Jews of Spanish and Portuguese origin, but he was baptised at St Olave Hart Street in London.[1][5] His father was a merchant.

During his youth he became an actor and he performed to acclaim in several works by William Shakespeare, during which time he gained a reputation for oratory. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Lincoln 1818–20[6] and MP for Rochester from 1820 to 1841 and again from 1847 to 1852.[2] From 1842 to 1847 he was MP for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis.[7]

According to the Legacies of British Slave-Ownership at the University College London, Bernal was awarded a payment as a slave trader in the aftermath of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 with the Slave Compensation Act 1837. The British Government took out a £15 million loan (worth £1.51 billion in 2022[8]) with interest from Nathan Mayer Rothschild and Moses Montefiore which was subsequently paid off by the British taxpayers (ending in 2015). Bernal was associated with three different claims, he owned 564 slaves in Jamaica and received a £11,458 payment at the time (worth £1.16 million in 2022[8]).[9]

Bernal was president of the British Archaeological Association in 1853.[10] He built up a substantial collection of glass, ceramics and other art objects, which were auctioned after his death, with the 4,000 lots selling for £70,000.[1]

He married Ann Elizabeth White in April 1806.[11] His eldest son was Ralph Bernal Osborne (1808–1882), a politician, who took on the surname Osborne on marrying the daughter of Sir Thomas Osborne, 9th Baronet.[12]

References

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Ralph Bernal

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by John Nicholas Fazakerley Coningsby Waldo-Sibthorpe	Member of Parliament for Lincoln 1818 – 1820 With: Coningsby Waldo-Sibthorpe	Succeeded by Coningsby Waldo-Sibthorpe Robert Percy Smith
Preceded by Lord Binning James Barnett	Member of Parliament for Rochester 1820 – 1841 With: Lord Binning 1820–1826 Henry Dundas 1826–1830 Viscount Villiers 1830–1831 John Mills 1831–1835 Thomas Twisden Hodges 1835–1837 Thomas Hobhouse 1837–1841	Succeeded by James Douglas William Bodkin
Preceded by Viscount Villiers George William Hope	Member of Parliament for Weymouth & Melcombe Regis 1842 – 1847 With: William Dougal Christie	Succeeded by William Dougal Christie William Lockyer Freestun
Preceded by James Douglas Stoddart Douglas William Bodkin	Member of Parliament for Rochester 1847 – 1852 With: Thomas Twisden Hodges	Succeeded by Hon. Francis Child Villiers Sir Thomas Maddock

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