Petty-Fitzmaurice, Henry, 1780-1863

PETTY-FITZMAURICE, HENRY, 3RD MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE, only son of William Petty, 1st Marquis of Lansdowne KG PC, Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, and his second wife Lady Louisa Fitzpatrick, sister of John Fitzpatrick, 2nd Earl of Upper Ossory (I) (qv); grandson of John Petty, 1st Earl of Shelburne (qv); b. 2 Jul 1780; at school 1789; up Clapham’s; in school list 1795; still at school 1796; Edinburgh Univ.; Trinity Coll. Oxford, adm. nob. 26 Oct 1798; MA 1801; Hon. LLD 1811; styled Lord Henry Petty to 1809; MP Calne 1802 – Jan 1806, Cambridge Univ. 7 Feb 1806-7, Camelford 1807 – 15 Nov 1809; took Whig whip in House of Commons; Chancellor of the Exchequer 10 Feb 1806 – 31 Mar 1807; Privy Councillor 5 Feb 1806; succeeded half-brother as 3rd Marquis of Lansdowne 15 Nov 1809, and cousin as Earl of Kerry (I) 4 Jul 1818; an active member of the Whig opposition in the House of Lords 1809-27, acting as its de facto leader 1823-7; supported the abolition of the slave trade and the removal of Roman Catholic and Jewish disabilities; led the main body of the Whig Party into coalition in Apr 1827 with the liberal wing of the Tory Party, headed by George Canning, serving in Canning’s cabinet as Minister without Portfolio Apr – Jul 1827 and as Secretary of State for Home Affairs in Canning and Goderich administrations 16 Jul 1827 – Jan 1828; Lord President of the Council in Whig administrations 22 Nov 1830 – Nov 1834, 18 Apr 1835 – Sep 1841 and 6 Jul 1846 – Feb 1852; led Whig peers in House of Lords 1843-55; declined to form government on Lord Derby’s resignation Dec 1852; member of cabinet in Aberdeen and Palmerston administrations Dec 1852 – Feb 1858, without holding any official position; refused offer of a dukedom Sep 1857; Lord Lieut., Wiltshire, from 23 Nov 1827; one of original members of Judicial Committee of Privy Council 14 Aug 1833; KG 5 Feb 1836; FRS 4 Apr 1811; member, Society of Dilettanti 1815; Busby Trustee 18 May 1813; a man of wide social influence and moderate political views; m. 30 Mar 1808 Lady Louisa Emma Fox-Strangways, sister of William Thomas Horner Fox-Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (qv); d. 31 Jan 1863, from the effects of a fall. Memorial bust, Westminster Abbey. DNB.

International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) 2nd edition

Prepared for import into AtoM by Westminster School Archive staff, 2019-2020

Users should note that the information recorded here that is not to be found in the first two volumes of the Record of Old Westminsters and its first Supplement has been assembled from various published and manuscript sources by Hugh Edmund Pagan MA FSA, and all new resulting text is his copyright, © 2014.

The Record of Old Westminsters: A biographical list of all those who are known to have been educated at Westminster School from the earliest times to 1927, Volumes 1 & 2, compiled by G. F. Russell Barker and Alan H. Stenning, London, 1928.