| Christopher Bethell-Codrington | |
| Office: | Member of Parliament for Tewkesbury |
| Term Start: | 1801 |
| Term End: | 1812 |
| Predecessor: | Parliament of Great Britain |
| Successor: | John Edmund Dowdeswell John Martin |
| Office1: | Member of Parliament for Tewkesbury |
| Term Start1: | 1797 |
| Term End1: | 1800 |
| Predecessor1: | William Dowdeswell James Martin |
| Alongside1: | James Martin |
| Successor1: | Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Birth Name: | Christopher Codrington |
| Party: | Tory |
| Parents: | Edward Codrington Rebecca le Sturgeon |
| Relations: | Sir William Codrington, 1st Baronet (grandfather) Edward Codrington (brother) |
Christopher Bethell-Codrington (until 1797 known as Christopher Codrington; October 1764 – 4 February 1843) was a British politician, planter and amateur cricket player who served as a MP in the British Parliament.
Christopher Codrington was born in October 1764 to Edward Codrington and Rebecca (le Sturgeon) Codrington. His paternal grandparents were Sir William Codrington, 1st Baronet and Elizabeth Bethell. Among his siblings was Admiral Sir Edward Codrington.
In 1792, he inherited from his uncle Sir William Codrington, 2nd Baronet, sugar plantations in Antigua and the Dodington Park estate in Gloucestershire. In 1797 he inherited further Caribbean property from his uncle Christopher Bethell, who had changed his name after inheriting the estates from his maternal uncle Slingsby Bethell in 1758. He then changed his surname to Bethell-Codrington.[1]
He was mainly associated with Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC)[2] and made five known appearances in first-class cricket matches in 1797.
In 1797 he was elected as a Tory Member of Parliament (MP) for Tewkesbury, holding the seat until 1812.
In 1806 he rejected pressure from his constituents to support the abolition of the slave trade, but denied being motivated by his self-interest as a plantation-owner. Later in 1832, he had a very public debate in the newspapers with Sir Fowell Buxton on abolition, quoting a letter from his attorney and resident manager for Barbuda in 1825, John James, detailing the supposed contentedness of the slaves there.[3]
In 1817, he purchased further lands at Wapley in Gloucestershire, which made his estate "extend upwards of 15 miles in one continued line".
Christopher Bethell-Codrington's sugar estates included Betty's Hope, Clare Hall, Garden, Cotton, New Work, Bolans, and Jennings, on the island of Antigua and also the island of Barbuda which was used to supply the sugar estates with provisions and also earned commissions by salvaging the many ship wrecks on its reefs.[4] These estates were managed by resident managers and attorneys. Many of their letters back to Christopher Bethell-Codrington at Dodington Park still exist and are available to read on microfilm and PDF in a collection known as the Codrington Papers. In the 1830s, the British government emancipated the slaves, and Bethell-Codrington was compensated over £30,000 for nearly 500 slaves in his ownership.[5]
On 16 August 1796, he married Hon. Caroline Georgina Harriet Foley, a daughter of Thomas Foley, 2nd Baron Foley of Kidderminster and Lady Henrietta Stanhope (fourth daughter of William Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Harrington and the former Lady Caroline FitzRoy). Together, they were the parents of:
Bethell-Codrington died on 3 February 1843.[6]