William Michell

For William Michell (MP for Derbyshire), see Derbyshire (UK Parliament constituency).

For those of a similar name, see William Mitchell (disambiguation).

William Michell (14 February 1796 – 4 November 1872) was a British physician and Member of Parliament.

The son of Bennet Michell, he was born in Bodmin in 1796. He wrote a paper on the use of ergot in childbirth in 1828; that year he was also admitted to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, receiving a MB in 1834, and a MD in 1839. Michell was admitted an MRCS in 1843. He was elected an MP for Bodmin in 1852.

In 1859, faced with a petition against him by James Wyld for corrupt practices during the elections, he agreed not to defend his seat if Wyld would withdraw the petition. Attacked by John Arthur Roebuck, who saw in this an attempt to escape charges, Michell replied that his means were insufficient to sustain the expenses necessary to defend himself against the petition. Roebuck's motion to prevent him from resigning was defeated, and he left Parliament by becoming Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds. He died in Plymouth in 1872.

References

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, August 5, 1859. "Election Compromises—Bodmin Election".

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by James Wyld Henry Charles Lacy	Member of Parliament for Bodmin 1852–1857 Served alongside: Charles Graves-Sawle	Succeeded by John Vivian James Wyld
Preceded by John Vivian James Wyld	Member of Parliament for Bodmin 1859 Served alongside: Hon. Frederick Leveson-Gower	Succeeded by Hon. Frederick Leveson-Gower James Wyld