Famous People from Bexley

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Vansittart, Nicholas, Lord Bexley

Nicholas Vansittart, the first and last Baron Bexley, was a Tory politician who was Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1812-22. He took the office when the country was burdened with heavy taxation and enormous debt because of the Napoleonic Wars. The continuation of hostilities until Waterloo in 1815 compelled him to increase customs duties and other taxes. In 1816 after the conclusion of peace a large decrease in taxation was generally desired and there was an outcry when Vansittart proposed only to reduce, not to abolish, the property or income tax. The abolition was carried in Parliament against his wishes and he was also forced to remit a tax on malt. He had to meet the shortfall by borrowing and devised a variety of complicated schemes. He became very unpopular and resigned in 1822. He was created Baron Bexley in 1823 and lived at Foots Cray Place with his wife, Catharine Eden. On his death his peerage became extinct.

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Wilson, Sir Erasmus

Sir William James Erasmus Wilson, known as Sir Erasmus Wilson, the surgeon, dermatologist and philanthropist, was a pupil at Dartford Grammar School before studying medicine at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, Smithfield. He lived for a while at The Elms, London Road, Crayford. His main claim to fame was that he personally defrayed the costs involved in bringing Cleopatra’s Needle to Britain in 1878, where it stands on the Thames Embankment. The Government of the day had not thought it worth the expense. As a doctor, he visited the East to study leprosy, Switzerland to investigate the causes of goitre, and Italy to study the effects of malnutrition. He popularised the use of the Turkish bath in Britain and devoted a great deal of money to charitable and educational purposes. He was knighted in 1881 and died three years later at Westgate-on-Sea.

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