Winthrop Mackworth Praed

Winthrop's father, William Mackworth Praed, was a serjeant-at-law (1756–1835) and a revising barrister for Bath.

[5] He was bracketed third in the classical tripos in 1825, won a fellowship at his college in 1827, and three years later carried off the Seatonian prize.

[6] At the Union his speeches were rivalled only by those of Macaulay and of Charles Austin, who subsequently made a great reputation at the parliamentary bar.

Whilst at Cambridge he tended to Whiggism, and up to the end of 1829 he continued to have these sympathies, but during the agitation for parliamentary reform his opinions changed, and when he was returned to parliament for St Germans (17 December 1830),[7] his election was due to the Tory party.

[4] The pieces he wrote on this occasion were collected in a volume printed at Penzance in 1833 and entitled Trash, dedicated without respect to James Halse, M.P., his successful opponent.

Praed sat for Great Yarmouth from 1835 to 1837, and was Secretary to the Board of Control during Sir Robert Peel's short administration.

[1] H. Austin Dobson praised Praed's "sparkling wit, the clearness and finish of his style, and the flexibility and unflagging vivacity of his rhythm" (Humphry Ward's English Poets).