'Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool' (
June 7,
1770 –
December 4,
1828) was a
British politician and the longest-serving
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (
Robert Walpole held office for longer, but before the United Kingdom was formed.) During his time as Prime Minister from
1812 to
1827, Liverpool became known for repressive measures introduced to maintain order, but also for steering the country through the period of radicalism and unrest that followed the
Napoleonic Wars[1]. Important events during his time as Prime Minister included the
Congress of Vienna, the
Corn Laws, the
Peterloo Massacre and the emerging issue of
Catholic Emancipation.
Early life
Jenkinson was baptized on 29 June 1770 at
St Margaret's Church, Westminster. The son of
George III's close adviser
Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool and his part-Indian first wife, Amelia Watts, Robert Jenkinson was educated at
Charterhouse School and
Christ Church, Oxford. In the summer of 1789, Jenkinson spent four months in
Paris to perfect his
French and enlarge his social experience. He returned to Oxford for three months to complete his terms of residence and in May 1790 was created master of arts.
He won election to the
House of Commons in 1790 for
Rye, a seat he would hold until 1803, and rose quickly through the
Tory ranks. However at the time he was under the age of assent to Parliament, so he refrained from taking his seat and spent the following winter and early spring in an extended tour of the continent. This tour took in the
Netherlands and
Italy, whereby he was old enough to take his seat in Parliament. It is not clear exactly when he entered the Commons, but as his twenty-first birthday was not reached until almost the end of the
1791 session, it is possible that he waited until the following year.
Arms of the Earls of Liverpool.
With the help of his father's influence and his political talent, he rose relatively fast in the Tory government. In February
1792, he gave the reply to
Whitbread's critical motion on the government's
Russian policy. He delivered several other speeches during the session, including one against the abolition of the
slave trade, which reflected his father's strong opposition to
William Wilberforce's campaign. He served as a member of the Board of Control for
India from 1793 to 1796.
In the defence movement that followed the outbreak of hostilities with
France, Baron Hawkesbury as he was now known, was one of the first of the ministers of the government to enlist in the militia. In
1794 he became a
Colonel in the
Cinque Ports fencibles, and his military duties led to frequent absences from the Commons. In 1796 his regiment was sent to
Scotland and he was quartered for a time in
Dumfries. His parliamentary attendance also suffered from his reaction when his father angrily opposed his projected marriage with Lady Louisa Hervey, daughter of the
Earl of Bristol. After Pitt and the King had intervened on his behalf, the wedding finally took place at
Wimbledon on 25 March
1795. In June
1796, when his father was created
Earl of Liverpool, he took the courtesy title of Lord Hawkesbury, by which he was known until his father's death in
1808. He also served as
Master of the Mint (1799-1801).
Cabinet
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Home Secretary
In
Henry Addington's government, he entered the cabinet as
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in which capacity he negotiated the
Treaty of Amiens with France
[2]. Most of his time as Foreign secretary was spent dealing with the nations of
France and the
United States. He continued to serve in the cabinet as
Home Secretary in
Pitt the Younger's second government. While Pitt was seriously ill, Liverpool was in charge of the cabinet and drew up the King's Speech for the official opening of Parliament.When William Pitt died in 1806, the King asked Liverpool to accept the post of Prime Minister, but he refused, as he believed he lacked a governing majority. He was then made leader of the Opposition during
Lord Grenville's ministry (the only time that Liverpool did not hold government office between 1793 and after his retirement). In 1807, he resumed office as
Home Secretary in
the Duke of Portland's ministry.
Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
Lord Liverpool (as Hawkesbury had now become by the death of his father in December 1808) accepted
Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in
Spencer Perceval's government in 1809. Liverpool's first step on taking up his new post was to elicit from the
Duke of Wellington a strong enough statement of his ability to resist a French attack to persuade the cabinet to commit themselves to the maintenance of his small force in
Portugal.
Prime Minister
When Perceval was assassinated in May 1812, Lord Liverpool succeeded him as prime minister. The cabinet proposed Liverpool as his successor with
Lord Castlereagh as leader in the Commons. But after an adverse vote in the Lower House, they subsequently gave both their resignations. The Prince Regent, however, found it impossible to form a different coalition and confirmed Liverpool as prime minister on 8 June. Liverpool's government contained some of the future great leaders of Britain, such as
Lord Castlereagh,
George Canning, the
Duke of Wellington,
Robert Peel, and
William Huskisson. Liverpool is considered a skilled politician, and held together the liberal and reactionary wings of the Tory party
[3], which his successors, Canning, Goedrich and Wellington, had great difficulty with.
Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna
Liverpool's ministry was a long and eventful one. The
War of 1812 with the United States and the final campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars were fought during Liverpool's premiership. It was during his ministry that the Peninsular Campaigns were fought by the Duke of Wellington. Britain defeated France in the
Napoleonic Wars, and Liverpool was awarded the Order of the Garter. At the peace negotiations that followed, Liverpool's main concern was to obtain a European settlement that would ensure the independence of the
Netherlands,
Spain, and
Portugal and confine
France inside her pre-war frontiers without damaging her national integrity. To achieve this, he was ready to return all British colonial conquests. Within this broad framework, he gave Castlereagh a discretion at the
Congress of Vienna, the next most important event of his ministry. At the congress, he gave prompt approval for Castlereagh's bold initiative in making the defensive alliance with
Austria and France in January 1815. In the aftermath, several years of peace followed.
The Corn Laws and trouble at home
Agriculture remained a problem because good harvests between 1819 and 1822 had brought down prices and evoked a cry for greater protection. When the powerful agricultural lobby in Parliament demanded protection in the aftermath, Liverpool gave in to political necessity. Under governmental supervision the notorious
Corn Laws of 1815 was passed prohibiting the import of foreign
wheat until the domestic price reached a minimum accepted level. Liverpool, however, was in principle a free-trader, but had to accept the bill as a temporary measure to ease the transition to peacetime conditions. His chief economic problem during his time as Prime-Minister was that of the nation's finances. The interest on the
national debt, massively swollen by the enormous expenditure of the final war years, together with the war
pensions, absorbed the greater part of normal government revenue. The refusal of the
House of Commons in 1816 to continue the wartime income tax left ministers with no immediate alternative but to go on with the ruinous system of borrowing to meet necessary annual expenditure. Liverpool eventually facilitated a return to the gold standard in 1819.
Inevitably taxes rose to compensate for borrowing and to pay off the debt, which led to widespread disturbance between 1812 and 1822
[4]. Around this time, the group known as
Luddites began industrial action, by smashing industrial machines developed for use in the textile industries of the
West Riding of
Yorkshire,
Nottinghamshire,
Leicestershire and
Derbyshire. Throughout the period 1811-16, there were a series of incidents of machine-breaking and many of those convicted faced execution.
[2]
Print of the Peterloo Massacre published by Richard Carlile
The reports of the secret committees he obtained in 1817 pointed to the existence of an organized network of disaffected political societies, especially in the manufacturing areas. Liverpool told Peel that the disaffection in the country seemed even worse than in 1794. Because of a largely perceived threat to the government, temporary legislation was introduced. He suspended
Habeas Corpus in both
Great Britain (1817) and
Ireland (1822)
[3]. Following the
Peterloo Massacre in 1819, his government imposed the repressive
Six Acts legislation which limited, among other things, free speech and the right to gather for peaceful demonstration
[7]. In 1820, as a result of these measures, Liverpool and other cabinet ministers were almost assassinated in the
Cato Street Conspiracy.
Although Lord Liverpool argued for the abolition of the slave trade at the Congress of Vienna, he was generally opposed to reform at home, often embracing repressive measures to ensure the
status quo[7]. He did however support the repeal of the
Combination Laws banning workers from combining into trade unions in 1824, although the powers of these unions were restricted in 1835 following
strikes.
[9]
Catholic emancipation
During the 19th century, and, in particular, during Liverpool's time in office,
Catholic emancipation was a source of great conflict. In 1805, in his first important statement of his views on the subject, Liverpool had argued that the special relationship of the monarch with the Church of England, and the refusal of
Roman Catholics to take the oath of supremacy, justified their exclusion from political power. Throughout his career, he remained opposed to the idea of Catholic emanicpation, though did see marginal concessions as important to the stability of the nation.
The decision of 1812 to remove the issue from collective cabinet policy, followed in 1813 by the defeat of Grattan's Roman
Catholic Relief Bill, brought a period of calm. Liverpool supported marginal concessions such as the admittance of English Roman Catholics to the higher ranks of the armed forces, the magistracy, and the parliamentary franchise; but he remained opposed to their participation in parliament itself. In the 1820s, pressure from the liberal wing of the Commons and the rise of the Catholic Association in Ireland revived the controversy.
By the date of Sir Francis Burdett's Catholic Relief Bill in 1825, emancipation looked a likely success. Indeed, the success of the bill in the Commons in April, followed by
Robert Peel's tender of resignation, finally persuaded Liverpool that he should retire. When Canning made a formal proposal that the cabinet should back the bill, Liverpool was convinced that his administration had come to its end.
George Canning then succeeded him as Prime Minister. Catholic emancipation however was not fully implemented until the major changes of the
Catholic Relief Act of 1829 under the leadership of the
Duke of Wellington and
Sir Robert Peel, and with the work of the
Catholic Association established in
1823.
Final years
Liverpool's first wife, Louisa, died at 54. He soon married again to Lady Mary Chester, a long-time friend of Louisa. Their marriage only lasted three years however, until Liverpool's death. Liverpool finally retired on
9 April 1827, when, at Fife House (his riverside residence in
Whitehall since 1810), he suffered a severe cerebral haemorrhage, and asked the King to seek a successor. There was another minor stroke in July, after which he lingered on at Coombe until a third and fatal attack on 4 December 1828 when he died. He had no children and was succeeded in the
Earldom of Liverpool by his younger half-brother
Charles Cecil Cope Jenkinson, 3rd Earl of Liverpool. He was buried in Hawkesbury parish church, Gloucestershire, beside his father and his first wife. His personal estate was registered at under £120,000.
It is now generally accepted that Lord Liverpool was of
Anglo-Indian descent.
Liverpool Street in London is named after Lord Liverpool.
Lord Liverpool's Administration, June 1812 - April 1827
★ Lord Liverpool -
First Lord of the Treasury and
Leader of the House of Lords
★
Lord Eldon -
Lord Chancellor
★
Lord Harrowby -
Lord President of the Council
★
Lord Westmorland -
Lord Privy Seal
★
Lord Sidmouth -
Secretary of State for the Home Department
★
Lord Castlereagh (Lord Londonderry after 1821) -
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and
Leader of the House of Commons
★
Lord Bathurst -
Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
★
Lord Melville -
First Lord of the Admiralty
★
Nicholas Vansittart -
Chancellor of the Exchequer
★
Lord Mulgrave -
Master-General of the Ordnance
★
Lord Buckinghamshire -
President of the Board of Control
★
Charles Bathurst -
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
★
Lord Camden - minister without portfolio
Changes
★ late 1812 - Lord Camden leaves the Cabinet.
★ September, 1814 -
William Wellesley-Pole (Lord Maryborough from 1821), the
Master of the Mint, enters the Cabinet.
★ February, 1816 -
George Canning succeeds Lord Buckinghamshire at the Board of Control
★ January, 1818 -
Frederick John Robinson, the
President of the Board of Trade, enters the Cabinet.
★ January, 1819 - The
Duke of Wellington succeeds Lord Mulgrave as Master-General of the Ordnance. Lord Mulgrave becomes minister without portfolio.
★ 1820 - Lord Mulgrave leaves the cabinet.
★ January, 1821 - Charles Bathurst succeeds Canning as President of the Board of Control, remaining also at the Duchy of Lancaster.
★ January, 1822 -
Robert Peel succeeds Lord Sidmouth as Home Secretary
★ February, 1822 -
Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn succeeds Charles Bathurst at the Board of Control. Bathurst remains at the Duchy of Lancaster and in the Cabinet.
★ September, 1822 - Following the suicide of Lord Londonderry,
George Canning becomes Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons.
★ January, 1823 - Vansittart, elevated to the peerage as Lord Bexley, succeeds Charles Bathurst as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. F.J. Robinson succeeds Vansittart as Chancellor of the Exchequer. He is succeeded at the Board of Trade by
William Huskisson.
★ 1823 - Lord Maryborough, the Master of the Mint, leaves the Cabinet. His successor in the office is not a Cabinet member.
Titles
★ Robert Jenkinson
★ Baron Hawkesbury
★ Lord Hawkesbury
★ 2nd Earl of Liverpool
External links
★
More about Robert Banks Jenkinson, Earl of Liverpool on the Downing Street website.
★
Robert Jenkinson at Find-A-Grave
★
Link page to Lord Liverpool
References
1. http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page157.asp
2. http://www.victorianweb.org/history/pms/Liverpool.html
3. http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/terrace/adw03/pms/l-pool.htm
4. http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/terrace/adw03/c-eight/distress/distress.htm
5. http://www.victorianweb.org/history/pms/Liverpool.html
6. http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/terrace/adw03/pms/l-pool.htm
7. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRliverpool.htm
8. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRliverpool.htm
9. http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/terrace/adw03/c-eight/l-pool/combacts.htm
Bibliography
★ Gash, N. Lord Liverpool: The Life and Political Career of Robert Banks Jenkinson, Second Earl of Liverpool 1770-1828. London 1984.
★ Petrie, C. Lord Liverpool and His Times. London, 1954.
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