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People & Organisations
Chancellor of the Exchequer Houses

Boyle, Henry, ca. 1686-1764

  • GB-2014-WSA-03667
  • Person
  • ca. 1686-1764

BOYLE, HENRY, 1ST EARL OF SHANNON (I), second son of Lieut. -Col. Hon. Henry Boyle, and Lady Mary O’Brien, d. of Murrough O’Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin (I); b.; adm.; QS 1702; Christ Church, Oxford, matr. 5 Mar 1704/5, aged 18; of Castle Martyr, co. Cork; MP (I) Midleton 1707-13, Kilmallock 1713-4, co. Cork 1715-56; successfully resisted the attempt of the government in 1729 to obtain a vote for a continuation of supplies to the Crown for twenty-one years; Privy Councillor (I) 13 Apr 1733; Chancellor of the Exchequer (I) 19 Nov 1733 - Nov 1735, 1739-54, 1755-6; opposed the government proposal for appropriating the Irish surplus, 1753; Speaker of the Irish House of Commons 4 Oct 1733 - 31 Mar 1756; LLD Trinity Coll. Dublin 1735; the parliamentary leader of the Whig party in Ireland; styled by Walpole “the King of the Irish Commons”; acted no less than fifteen times as a Lord Justice in the absence of the Lord Lieutenant; on resigning the Speakership he was granted a government pension and created Earl of Shannon (I) 7 Apr 1756; m. 1st, 1715, Catherine, dau. of Chidley Coote, Kilmallock, co. Limerick; m. 2nd, Sep 1726 Lady Henrietta Boyle, dau. of Charles Boyle, 3rd Earl of Cork (I) and 2nd Earl of Burlington; d. at Dublin 28 Dec 1764. DNB.

Montagu, Charles, 1st Earl of Halifax, 1661-1715

  • GB-2014-WSA-00732
  • Person
  • 1661-1715

MONTAGU, CHARLES, 1ST EARL OF HALIFAX, fourth son of Hon. George Montagu MP, Horton, Northants, and Elizabeth, dau. of Sir Anthony Irby, Kt, Boston, Lincs.; b. 16 Apr 1661; adm. 1675; KS (Capt. ) 1677; Trinity Coll. Cambridge, adm. fellow commoner 8 Nov 1679; MA 1682; LLD 1705; Fellow, Trinity Coll. 1683 – c. 1689; High Steward, Cambridge Univ., from 1697; wrote with Matthew Prior (qv) The Hind and the Panther transvers’d to the story of the Country Mouse and the City Mouse, 1687; MP Maldon 1689-95, Westminster 1695 – 13 Dec 1700; a Clerk of the Privy Council 1689-92; a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury 21 Mar 1692 – Apr 1698; his proposal of 15 Dec 1692 to raise a million pounds by life annuities was the origin of the National Debt; his bill to establish the Bank of England became law 1694; Chancellor of the Exchequer 30 Apr 1694 – May 1699; Privy Councillor 10 May 1694; introduced the Recoinage Bill, and instituted the Window Tax to pay for the expense of the recoinage; issued the first Exchequer Bills and carried his bill for the formation of a consolidated fund to meet interest on the various government loans; First Lord of the Treasury 1 May 1697 – Nov 1699; Auditor of the Receipt of Exchequer 17 Nov 1699 – 30 Sep 1714; created Baron Halifax 13 Dec 1700; impeached by the House of Lords for obtaining grants from the King in the names of others for himself, and for his share in the Partition Treaty, but the impeachment was dismissed for want of prosecution 24 Jun 1701; charged by House of Commons for neglect of his duties as Auditor of the Exchequer, but his conduct as such was unanimously approved by the House of Lords 1703; successfully moved the rejection of the Occasional Conformity Bill 14 Dec 1703; a Commissioner for negotiating the Union with Scotland 10 Apr 1706; acted as one of the Lords Justices from Queen Anne’s death until the arrival of George I; First Lord of the Treasury from 11 Oct 1714; KG 16 Oct 1714; created Earl of Halifax 19 Oct 1714; Lord Lieutenant, Surrey, from 24 Dec 1714; a great parliamentary orator and brilliant financier; the lifelong friend of Sir Isaac Newton and a munificent patron of literature; FRS 30 Nov 1695, President 30 Nov 1695 – 30 Nov 1698; his collected poems were published in 1715; [? m. 1st, 3 Sep 1685 Elisabeth, dau. of Francis Forster, South Bailey, Durham]; m. Feb 1688 Anne, widow of his cousin Robert Montagu, 3rd Earl of Manchester, and dau. of Sir Christopher Yelverton, Bart.; d. 19 May 1715. Buried in Duke of Albemarle’s vault, Henry VII’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey. DNB.

Petty-Fitzmaurice, Henry, 1780-1863

  • GB-2014-WSA-13829
  • Person
  • 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.