Philips, John, fl 1815

William Carey was born in 1761. He became a Baptist minister and travelled as a missionary to India with his family in 1793. He learned the local languages and, with his Indian colleagues, translated the Bible into six languages.

John Campbell was born in Edinburgh in 1766. He was ordained in 1804 and preached at the Kingsland Independent Chapel, London. He was a supporter of the abolition of slavery and became Director of the London Missionary Society (LMS) in 1805. He travelled to Africa in 1812 on behalf of the LMS and on his return in 1814 wrote Travels in South Africa .

Joseph Hume was born in Montrose, Scotland in 1777. He enlisted in the East India Company in 1799, and made a fortune in the next few years. He became the MP for Weymouth, a rotten borough, in 1812 but lost his seat the same year. He returned to Westminster as the MP for Aberdeen in 1818, and became one of the leaders of the radicals for the next 30 years. He campaigned to extend the franchise, supported the introduction of secret ballots, and voted to abolish the death penalty. He lost his seat in 1837 but represented Montrose from 1842 until his death in 1855.

Thomas Babington Macaulay was born at Rothley Temple, Leicestershire in 1800. He was the son of the abolitionist Zachary Macaulay and his wife Selina (née Mills), and was educated at Trinity College Cambridge. He subsequently studied law at Lincoln's Inn and was called to the bar in 1826. He first entered parliament in 1830 as MP for Calne and subsequently for Leeds. He left parliament in 1834 to serve on the Governor-General's Council in British India, returning to Britain in 1838. In 1839 he re-entered parliament as MP for Edinburgh, keeping the seat until 1847 and spending several years as a cabinet minister. Macaulay was also known as a poet and author. Between 1839 and 1855 he wrote four volumes of a History of England . He was granted a peerage in 1857 and buried in Westminster Abbey after his death in 1859.

No information about John Philips was available at the time of compilation.

From the guide to the Carey, W; Campbell, J; Hume, J; Macaulay, T B; and Philips, J: correspondence, 1805-1847, (Senate House Library, University of London)