Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston

Joseph Wright of Derby. Two Girls Dressing a Kitten by Candlelight. c. 1768-70. Oil on canvas, Kenwood House, London. Formerly owned by Henry Temple.[1]

Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston, FRS (4 December 1739 – 17 April 1802), was a British politician.

Life

Temple was a son of Henry Temple (son of Henry Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston) and Jane, daughter of Sir John Barnard, Lord Mayor of London.[2]

He was born into 'the Ascendancy', the Anglo-Irish aristocracy. His family owned a vast country estate in the north of County Sligo in the west of Ireland. He succeeded to the peerage in 1757, and was educated at Clare College, Cambridge from 1757 to 1759.[3]

As a member of the British House of Commons, he represented the constituencies of East Looe between 1762 and 1768, Southampton between 1768 and 1774, Hastings between 1774 and 1784, Boroughbridge between 1784 and 1790, Newport, Isle of Wight between 1790 and 1796, and Winchester between 1796 and his death in 1802.

He was appointed to the Board of Trade in 1765, was a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty between 1766 and 1777, and was a Lord of the Treasury from 1777 to 1782.

In 1763 Temple journeyed to Italy, staying with Voltaire at Ferney en route. He reached Rome in 1764, and from there visited Paestum, south of Naples. He bought antiquities and paintings from Gavin Hamilton, antiquities from Giovanni Battista Piranesi, paintings from Angelica Kauffman, cameos from Giovanni Pichler and sculpture from Joseph Nollekens.[4]

He died on 17 April 1802 at his house in Hanover Square, Westminster,[2] and left behind his wife and children. His son, Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century.

A portrait of Henry Temple by Angelica Kauffman is held at Broadlands, Hampshire.

References

  1. ↑ Bryant, Julius (December 1996). "The dark side of The Kitten: A Wright of Derby for Kenwood". Apollo. 144 (418 (new series)): 18–19.
  2. 1 2 Davies, Edward J. (2008). "The Ancestry of Lord Palmerston". The Genealogist. 22: 62–77.
  3. ↑ "Palmerston, Henry (Temple), Viscount (PLMN757HT)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  4. ↑ Bignamini, Ilaria; Hornsby, Clare (2010). Digging and Dealing in Eighteenth-Century Rome. New Haven CT: Yale University Press. pp. 313–315. ISBN 978-0300160437.

Further reading

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
Francis Gashry
John Buller		 Member of Parliament for East Looe
1762 – 1768
With: John Buller		 Succeeded by
Richard Hussey
John Buller
Preceded by
Henry Dawkins
Hans Stanley		 Member of Parliament for Southampton
1768 – 1774
With: Hans Stanley		 Succeeded by
John Fleming
Hans Stanley
Preceded by
Samuel Martin
William Ashburnham		 Member of Parliament for Hastings
1774 – 1784
With: Charles Jenkinson
John Ord		 Succeeded by
John Stanley
John Dawes
Preceded by
Anthony Eyre
Charles Ambler		 Member of Parliament for Boroughbridge
1784 – 1790
With: Sir Richard Sutton, Bt		 Succeeded by
Morris Robinson
Sir Richard Sutton, Bt
Preceded by
Edward Rushworth
George Byng		 Member of Parliament for Newport
1790 – 1796
With: Viscount Melbourne to 1793
Peniston Lamb from 1793		 Succeeded by
Jervoise Clarke Jervoise
Edward Rushworth
Preceded by
Henry Penton
Richard Grace Gamon		 Member of Parliament for Winchester
1796 – 1800
With: Richard Grace Gamon		 Succeeded by
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Parliament of Great Britain		 Member of Parliament for Winchester
1801 – 1801
With: Richard Grace Gamon		 Succeeded by
Sir Henry St John-Mildmay, Bt
Richard Grace Gamon
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by
Henry Temple		 Viscount Palmerston
1757–1802 		Succeeded by
Henry Temple
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