Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst

The Right Honourable The Earl Bathurst KG PC
Portrait of Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst by William Salter
President of the Board of Trade
In office 31 March 1807 – 29 September 1812
Monarch	George III
Prime Minister	The Duke of Portland Spencer Perceval The Earl of Liverpool
Preceded by	The Lord Auckland
Succeeded by	The Earl of Clancarty
Foreign Secretary
In office 11 October 1809 – 6 December 1809
Monarch	George III
Prime Minister	Spencer Perceval
Preceded by	George Canning
Succeeded by	The Marquess Wellesley
Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
In office 11 June 1812 – 30 April 1827
Monarch	George III George IV
Prime Minister	The Earl of Liverpool
Preceded by	Viscount Castlereagh
Succeeded by	The Viscount Goderich
Lord President of the Council
In office 26 January 1828 – 22 November 1830
Monarch	George IV William IV
Prime Minister	The Duke of Wellington
Preceded by	The Duke of Portland
Succeeded by	The Marquess of Lansdowne
Personal details
Born	22 May 1762
Died	27 July 1834 (aged 72) London
Nationality	British
Political party	Tory
Spouse(s)	Lady Georgina Lennox (1765-1846)
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford

Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst KG PC (22 May 1762 – 27 July 1834) was a British politician.

Background and education

Lord Bathurst was the elder son of Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst, by his wife Tryphena, daughter of Thomas Scawen. He was educated at Eton from 1773 to 1778 and then at Christ Church, Oxford.

Political career

Lord Bathurst was member of the British Parliament for Cirencester from 1783 until he succeeded to the earldom in August 1794. Owing mainly to his friendship with William Pitt, he was a lord of the admiralty from 1783 to 1789; a lord of the treasury from 1789 to 1791; and commissioner of the board of control from 1793 to 1802. Returning to office with Pitt in May 1804 he became Master of the Mint, and was President of the Board of Trade and Master of the Mint during the ministries of the Duke of Portland and Spencer Perceval, only vacating these posts in June 1812 to become Secretary of State for War and the Colonies under Lord Liverpool. For two months during 1809 he was in charge of the foreign office. He was Secretary for War and the Colonies until Liverpool resigned in April 1827; and deserves some credit for improving the conduct of the Peninsular War, while it was his duty to defend the government concerning its treatment of Napoleon Bonaparte.^[1]

Bathurst's official position caused his name to be mentioned frequently during the agitation for the abolition of slavery, and with regard to this traffic he seems to have been animated by a humane spirit. The current capital of The Gambia, Banjul, was originally named Bathurst after the earl. He was Lord President of the Council in the government of the Duke of Wellington from 1828 to 1830, and favoured the removal of the disabilities of Roman Catholics, but was a sturdy opponent of the Reform Bill of 1832. The Earl, who had four sons and two daughters, died on 27 July 1834. Bathurst was made a Knight of the Garter in 1817, and held several lucrative sinecures.^[1]

Family

Lord Bathurst married Lady Georgiana, daughter of Lord George Henry Lennox, in April 1789. He died in July 1834, aged 72, and was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest son, Henry. His daughter Lady Emily Charlotte Bathurst (d. 1877) married Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby. Lady Bathurst died in January 1841, aged 75.

Legacy

Bathurst was portrayed by Christopher Lee in the South African television series Shaka Zulu.

Places named after Bathurst

• Bathurst County, New South Wales, Australia
• Bathurst, New South Wales, regional city in Australia
• Bathurst Island (Northern Territory), Australia
• Bathurst Island, Nunavut, Canada
• Bathurst Street, Toronto, Canada
• Bathurst, New Brunswick, Canada
• Bathurst, town in the Eastern Cape of South Africa

Notes

1. Chisholm 1911.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bathurst, Earls". Encyclopædia Britannica 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
•  Kebbel, Thomas Edward (1885). "Bathurst, Henry (1762-1834)". In Stephen, Leslie. Dictionary of National Biography 3. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• Thompson, Neville. "Bathurst, Henry, third Earl Bathurst (1762–1834)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/1696. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl Bathurst
• Henry Bathurst, third Earl Bathurst at Australian Dictionary of Biography