Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool

Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool, PC (26 April 1729  17 December 1808), known as Lord Hawkesbury between 1786 and 1796, was a British statesman. He was the father of Prime Minister Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool.


The Earl of Liverpool

The Earl of Liverpool by George Romney
President of the Board of Trade
In office
23 August 1786  7 June 1804
MonarchGeorge III
Prime MinisterWilliam Pitt the Younger
Henry Addington
Preceded byThe Lord Sydney (President of the Committee on Trade and Foreign Plantations)
Succeeded byThe Duke of Montrose
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
In office
6 September 1786  11 November 1803
MonarchGeorge III
Prime MinisterWilliam Pitt the Younger
Henry Addington
Preceded byThe Earl of Clarendon
Succeeded byLord Pelham
Personal details
Born26 April 1729 (2021-02-08UTC21:38:42)
Oxfordshire, England
Died17 December 1808 (1808-12-18) (aged 79)
London, England
NationalityBritish
Spouse(s)
Amelia Watts
(m. 1769; died 1770)

Catherine Bishopp
(m. 1782)
Alma materUniversity College, Oxford

Early years, family and education

He was born in Oxfordshire, the eldest son of Colonel Charles Jenkinson (1693–1750) and Amarantha (daughter of Wolfran Cornewall). The earl was the grandson of Sir Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Baronet, of Walcot, Oxfordshire. The Jenkinson family was descended from Anthony Jenkinson (died 1611), who was a sea-captain, merchant, and traveller and the first known Englishman to penetrate into Central Asia. Liverpool was educated at Charterhouse School and University College, Oxford, where he graduated Master of Arts in 1752.[1]

Political career

In 1761, Liverpool entered parliament as member for Cockermouth and was made Under-Secretary of State by Lord Bute. He won the favour of George III, and when Bute retired Jenkinson became the leader of the "King's Friends" in the House of Commons. In 1763, George Grenville appointed him joint Secretary to the Treasury.[1]

In 1766,after a short retirement, he became a Lord of the Admiralty and then a Lord of the Treasury in the Grafton administration. In 1772, Jenkinson became a Privy Councillor and Vice Treasurer of Ireland, and in 1775 he purchased the lucrative sinecure of Clerk of the Pells in Ireland and became Master of the Mint of Ireland.[1]

From 1778 until the close of Lord North's ministry in 1782 he was Secretary at War. From 1786 to 1804, he was President of the Board of Trade and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and he was popularly regarded as enjoying the confidence of the king to a special degree.[1]

In 1786 he was created Baron Hawkesbury, of Hawkesbury in the County of Gloucester, and ten years later, Earl of Liverpool. He also succeeded his cousin in 1790 as the 7th Baronet of Walcot and to the family estates. He lived at Addiscombe Place, Surrey and in Hawkesbury, Gloucestershire. He died in London on 17 December 1808.[1]

Family

Liverpool was twice married. In 1769 he married firstly Amelia, daughter of William Watts, governor of Fort William, Bengal, and of his wife, better known as Begum Johnson.[1] Amelia died in July 1770, a month after the birth of her only child, Robert.[2]

Liverpool married secondly Catherine, daughter of Sir Cecil Bishopp, 6th Baronet, and widow of Sir Charles Cope, 2nd Baronet,[1] on 22 June 1782 at her house in Hertford Street, London.[3] They had one son, Charles, who became 3rd Earl of Liverpool, and one daughter, Charlotte, who married James Grimston, 1st Earl of Verulam.[2]

On Lord Liverpool's death, he was succeeded by his son from his first marriage, Robert, who became a prominent politician and eventually Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.[4] The Countess of Liverpool died in October 1827, aged 82.[3]

Legacy

Liverpool wrote several political works, but other than for his Treatise on the Coins of the Realm (1805) these are, according to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, "without striking merits".[1]

The Hawkesbury River in New South Wales, Australia and Hawkesbury, Ontario, Canada were named after Jenkinson shortly after he was created Baron Hawkesbury.

At least two ships were named after Jenkinson under his title of Lord Hawkesbury: one launched in America in 1781—presumably under another name—but entered in Lloyd's Register from 1787 as the Lord Hawkesbury, sailing as a whaler; and the East Indiaman Lord Hawkesbury, launched in 1787.

Notes

  1. Chisholm 1911, p. 408.
  2. Petrie 1954, p. 4.
  3. Cokayne 1906, p. 19.
  4. Petrie 1954, p. 130.

References

  • Cokayne, George Edward (1906), Complete Baronetage, V, Exeter: W. Pollard & Company, LCCN 06023564
  • Petrie, Charles (1954). Lord Liverpool and His Times. London: J. Barrie. ISBN 9787800284403.
Attribution

Further reading

Political offices
Preceded by
Francis Gashry
Treasurer of the Ordnance
1762–1763
Succeeded by
John Ross Mackye
Preceded by
The Lord Sydney
as President of the Committee
on Trade and Foreign Plantations
President of the Board of Trade
1786–1804
Succeeded by
The Duke of Montrose
Preceded by
The Earl of Clarendon
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
1786–1803
Succeeded by
The Lord Pelham
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
Sir John Mordaunt
Percy Wyndham-O'Brien
Member of Parliament for Cockermouth
1761–1767
With: Sir John Mordaunt
Succeeded by
Sir John Mordaunt
John Elliot
Preceded by
John Stanwix
Philip Honywood
Member of Parliament for Appleby
1767–1772
With: Philip Honywood
Succeeded by
Fletcher Norton
Philip Honywood
Preceded by
Edward Harvey
John Roberts
Member of Parliament for Harwich
1772–1774
With: Edward Harvey
Succeeded by
Edward Harvey
John Robinson
Preceded by
Samuel Martin
William Ashburnham
Member of Parliament for Hastings
1774–1780
With: The Viscount Palmerston
Succeeded by
The Viscount Palmerston
John Ord
Preceded by
Grey Cooper
Paul Wentworth
Member of Parliament for Saltash
1780–1786
With: Grey Cooper 1780–1784
Charles Ambler 1784–1786
Succeeded by
Charles Ambler
The Earl of Mornington
Peerage of Great Britain
New creation Earl of Liverpool
1796–1808
Succeeded by
Robert Jenkinson
Baron Hawkesbury
1786–1803
Baronetage of England
Preceded by
Banks Jenkinson
Baronet
(of Hawkesbury)
1790–1808
Succeeded by
Robert Jenkinson
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