Henry Labouchere, 1st Baron Taunton

For the writer and publisher (his nephew), see Henry Labouchère
The Right Honourable
The Lord Taunton
PC

Lord Taunton (1855) by Charles Baugniet.
President of the Board of Trade
In office
29 August 1838  30 August 1841
Monarch Victoria
Prime Minister The Viscount Melbourne
Preceded by Charles Poulett Thomson
Succeeded by The Earl of Ripon
In office
22 July 1847  21 February 1852
Monarch Victoria
Prime Minister Lord John Russell
Preceded by The Earl of Clarendon
Succeeded by J. W. Henley
Secretary of State for the Colonies
In office
21 November 1855  21 February 1858
Monarch Victoria
Prime Minister The Viscount Palmerston
Preceded by Sir William Molesworth, Bt
Succeeded by Lord Stanley
Personal details
Born 15 August 1798 (1798-08-15)
Over Stowey, Somerset
Died 13 July 1869 (1869-07-14) (aged 70)
Over Stowey, Somerset
Nationality British
Political party Whig
Liberal Party
Spouse(s) (1) Frances Baring
(1813-1850)
(2) Lady Mary Howard
(d. 1892)
Alma mater University of Oxford

Henry Labouchere, 1st Baron Taunton PC (15 August 1798 – 13 July 1869) was a prominent British Whig and Liberal Party politician of the mid-19th century.

Background and education

Labouchere /læbˈʃɛər/ was born in Over Stowey, Somerset, into a Huguenot merchant family.[1] His father was Peter Caesar Labouchere and his mother Dorothy Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Francis Baring. He was educated at Winchester College and Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his B.A. (1821) and his M.A. (1828).[1]

Political career

In 1826, Labouchere became MP for St Michael, as a Whig.[1] In 1830, he moved to the Taunton seat, which he held until 1859. In 1835 he was opposed by Benjamin Disraeli for the Taunton seat; Labouchere won by 452 votes to 282. He was first appointed to office by Lord Grey in 1832, serving as Civil Lord of the Admiralty.[1] After beginning the second Melbourne ministry as Master of the Mint, Privy Counsellor, and Vice-President of the Board of Trade (and, later, Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies), Labouchere was raised to a cabinet post, President of the Board of Trade, which he held from 1839 until the Melbourne government fell in 1841.[1]

Lord Taunton by William Menzies Tweedie.

When the Whigs, now led by Lord John Russell, returned to office in 1846, Labouchere returned to the cabinet, this time as Chief Secretary for Ireland. The following year, he once again became President of the Board of Trade, and stayed in that post until Russell's government fell in 1852.[1] From 1853 to 1854 he sat on the Royal Commission on the City of London.[2] Labouchere's final cabinet posting came during the first Palmerston ministry, for which he served as Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1855 to 1858.[1] In 1859, Labouchere was raised to the peerage as Baron Taunton, of Taunton in the County of Somerset.[3][4]

Family

In 1840 Labouchere married his first cousin Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Baring. They had three daughters, one of whom was Emily Labouchere (1844-1933) who married Henry Eliot, 5th Earl of St Germans, Mina Francis, who married Sir Arthur Ellis, and Mary Dorothy; Frances snr died in 1850, aged 36. In 1852 he married Lady Mary Howard (1823–1892) daughter of the Earl of Carlisle. There were no children from this marriage.[1]

Taunton died in July 1869, aged 70, at his London house in Belgrave Square.[1] He was buried near his country house Quantock Lodge at Over Stowey. As he had no sons the barony became extinct on his death.[1] His nephew, also Henry Labouchere, inherited part of Labouchere's fortune, and was later to become a well-known newspaper editor and politician.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Barke, G. F. R. "Labouchere, Henry, Baron Taunton (1798–1869)", rev. H. C. G. Matthew, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, Oct 2008, accessed 9 March 2012
  2. "List of commissions and officials: 1850-1859 (nos. 53-94)". Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 9. 1984. Retrieved 10 March 2008.
  3. The London Gazette: no. 22298. p. 3108. 16 August 1859.
  4.  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Taunton, Henry Labouchere, Baron". Encyclopædia Britannica 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Sir George Staunton, Bt
William Taylor Money
Member of Parliament for Mitchell
18261830
With: William Leake
Succeeded by
Hon. Lloyd Kenyon
John Heywood Hawkins
Preceded by
Henry Seymour
William Peachey
Member of Parliament for Taunton
18301859
With: Edward Thomas Bainbridge, 1830–1842
Sir Thomas Colebrooke, Bt, 1842–1852
Arthur Mills, 1852–1853
Sir John William Ramsden, 1853–1857
Arthur Mills, 1857–1859
Succeeded by
Arthur Mills
George Cavendish-Bentinck
Political offices
Preceded by
Viscount Lowther
Vice-President of the Board of Trade
1835–1839
Succeeded by
Richard Lalor Sheil
Preceded by
Charles Thomson
President of the Board of Trade
1839–1841
Succeeded by
The Earl of Ripon
Preceded by
The Earl of Lincoln
Chief Secretary for Ireland
1846–1847
Succeeded by
Sir William Somerville, Bt
Preceded by
The Earl of Clarendon
President of the Board of Trade
1847–1852
Succeeded by
Joseph Warner Henley
Preceded by
Sir William Molesworth, Bt
Secretary of State for the Colonies
1855–1858
Succeeded by
Lord Stanley
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Taunton
1859–1869
Title extinct
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