Charles Arbuthnot
George IV | |
---|---|
Prime Minister | The Duke of Wellington |
Preceded by | The Earl of Aberdeen |
Succeeded by | The Lord Holland |
Personal details | |
Born | 14 March 1767 Rockfleet, Tory |
Spouse(s) | (1) Marcia Clapcott-Lisle (1774–1806) (2) Harriet Fane (1793–1834) |
Charles Arbuthnot (14 March 1767 – 18 August 1850) was a British diplomat and
Background
Arbuthnot was son of
Political and diplomatic career to 1804
Arbuthnot joined the
Arbuthnot also held a number of diplomatic postings, notably as consul general in Portugal between 1800 and 1801, as
In Constantinople
Appointed on 6 June 1804 as
Arbuthnot was tasked in the early days of 1807 to bring Selim III into the Anglo-Russian camp opposed to France. He was unable to do that.[3] In the context of a renewed Russo-Turkish War and tariff evasion under the commercial treaty, Arbuthnot pursued his own line, prepared to use force.[9]
Selim with
Politics to 1812
Arbuthnot was Member of Parliament for Eye between 1809 and 1812, taking up the seat when Henry Wellesley resigned.[10] He became Secretary to the Treasury in 1809, and began attempts to manage public opinion for the government, by centralising management of the press.[11]
Under Spencer Perceval, and then Lord Liverpool, Arbuthnot was Joint Secretary to the Treasury between 1809 and 1823.
The Liverpool ministry
Arbuthnot sat for
Arbuthnot held the position of Patronage Secretary, and also played the role of "general cabinet fixer".
During Arbuthnot's time in charge of patronage, a Treasury appointment, over 2,000 sinecure posts were abolished. He noted the effect the reforms were having on his influence on Members of Parliament.[17] He is taken to have been the de facto Tory whip.[18] The responsibility for party discipline was only later recognised by a seat in the Cabinet.
Subsequently Arbuthnot sat for
Later life and death
Arbuthnot was Member of Parliament for St Ives between 1828 and 1830 and for Ashburton between 1830 and 1831.[1] At St Ives he was the favoured successor of Sir Christopher Hawkins, 1st Baronet. For a time in 1828 a rival candidate was promoted, Guy Lenox Prendergast, but he withdrew before the poll.[20] Ashburton was controlled by landlords Robert Trefusis, 18th Baron Clinton and Sir Lawrence Vaughan Palk. Arbuthnot was elected with Palk in 1830, and resigned in 1831.[21]
Under Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Arbuthnot was First Commissioner of Woods and Forests in 1828 and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster between 1828 and 1830. In the 1830s he remained a major figure in the party management of the Tories, working with John Charles Herries, William Holmes and Joseph Planta.[22]
During the last years of Arbuthnot's life, after the death of his second wife Harriet, he turned over the family home to his eldest son, and moved into the Duke of Wellington's London residence, Apsley House, as his confidential friend.[23] Their story is told in Wellington and the Arbuthnots by E. A. Smith.[24]
Charles Arbuthnot died at Apsley House in August 1850, aged 83. Spiridione Gambardella's portrait of him is kept there.[25] He was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery.[26]
Works
- The Correspondence of Charles Arbuthnot (1941), edited by Arthur Aspinall[27]
Personal life and family
Arbuthnot was first married on 28 February 1799 to
Arbuthnot married a second time on 31 January 1814 at Fulbeck, Lincolnshire, to Harriet Fane (1793–1834), daughter of the Hon. Henry Fane. Harriet was fascinated by politics. During her marriage to Arbuthnot, she became a hostess at society dinners given by Arbuthnot's good friend, the Duke of Wellington. Smith rejects the suggestion that Harriet was Wellington's mistress. Her diaries were published as The Journal of Mrs Arbuthnot in 1950.[28]
With his first wife Marcia, Arbuthnot's children were:
- Charles George James Arbuthnot (1799–1870).[29] He married Charlotte Eliza Vivian, daughter of Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian.[30]
- Caroline Emma Arbuthnot (1802–1852)
- Henry Arbuthnot (1803–1875), married in 1830 Charlotte Rachael Scott, daughter of Thomas Scott, 2nd Earl of Clonmell.[31]
- Marcia Emma Georgiana Arbuthnot (1804–1878), who married William Cholmondeley, 3rd Marquess of Cholmondeley.
Arbuthnot had an illegitimate son, from the days before he first married, mentioned in correspondence with his clerical friend John Sneyd (1763–1835), brother of
References
- ^ a b c d "Arbuthnot, Charles (1767-1850), of Woodford, Northants. History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org.
- Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: Parker and Co – via Wikisource.
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/607. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ "East Looe 1790-1820, History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org.
- ^ "No. 15714". The London Gazette. 26 June 1804. p. 789.
- ISBN 978-90-474-2983-8.
- ISBN 978-1-107-19797-8.
- ^ "Pole Tylney Long Wellesley, William (1788-1857), of Wanstead Hall, Essex. History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org.
- ISBN 978-1-78327-202-0.
- ^ "Eye 1790-1820, History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org.
- ISBN 978-1-139-49654-4.
- ^ "Orford 1790-1820, History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org.
- ISBN 978-0-7188-9564-8.
- ISBN 978-0-19-993159-0.
- JSTOR 30210623.
- ISBN 978-0-521-43266-5.
- ISBN 978-1-135-83560-6.
- ISBN 978-0-87169-163-7.
- ^ "St. Germans 1790-1820, History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org.
- ^ "St. Ives 1820-1832, History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org.
- ^ "Ashburton 1820-1832, History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org.
- ISBN 978-0-86193-261-0.
- ^
"THE IRON DUKE'S LADY". Heritage Alive UK. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
By January 1835, Charles handed his estate at Woodford to his son, and followed the diaries to Aspley House. He and Wellington lived there together, surrounded by the legacy of Harriet's influence, until Charles died in 1850.
- ^ Arbuthnot, Harriet (1950). Bamford, F.; Duke of Wellington (eds.). The journal of Mrs. Arbuthnot, 1820–1832. London: MacMillan.
- ^ Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1885). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 2. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/607. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ISBN 978-0-86193-065-4.
- ISBN 0-7509-0629-4.
- ^ Portugal, Select Baptisms, 1570-1910
- ^ The Gentleman's Magazine. W. Pickering. 1842. p. 544.
- ^ Debrett, John (1840). Debrett's Peerage of England, Scotland, and Ireland. revised, corrected and continued by G.W. Collen. p. 179.
- ^ Canning, George (1909). Bagot, Josceline (ed.). George Canning and His Friends: Containing Hitherto Unpublished Letters, Jeux D'esprit, Etc. Vol. I. J. Murray. pp. 3–7.
- ^ George III (1968). The Later Correspondence of George III.: January 1802 to December 1807. Vol. IV. Cambridge University Press. p. 574 note 2.
External links
- Arbuthnot family tree[usurped]
- Portraits of Charles Arbuthnot at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Mr Charles Arbuthnot
- "Archival material relating to Charles Arbuthnot". UK National Archives.
- The Correspondence of Charles Arbuthnot. A. Aspinall. 1941; Royal Historical Society.