Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham
Prime Minister of Great Britain | |
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In office 27 March 1782 – 1 July 1782 | |
Monarch | George III |
Preceded by | Lord North |
Succeeded by | The Earl of Shelburne |
In office 13 July 1765 – 30 July 1766 | |
Monarch | George III |
Preceded by | George Grenville |
Succeeded by | William Pitt the Elder |
Personal details | |
Born | Charles Watson-Wentworth 13 May 1730 Wentworth, Yorkshire, England |
Died | 1 July 1782 Wimbledon, England | (aged 52)
Resting place | York Minster, York, England |
Political party | Whig |
Spouse | |
Parents |
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Alma mater | St John's College, Cambridge |
Signature | |
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham,
Early life: 1730–1751
Family and military career
A descendant of the 1st Earl of Strafford, Lord Rockingham was the second son of Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham and Lady Mary Finch, daughter of 7th Earl of Winchilsea, he was brought up at the family lavish home of Wentworth Woodhouse near Rotherham[1] in Yorkshire.
He was educated at
Lordships and titles
In April 1746 Rockingham's father was made a
Early political career: 1751–1765
Member of Parliament
On 13 May 1751 (his 21st birthday), Rockingham inherited his father's estates. The rents from the land in Yorkshire, Northamptonshire and Ireland gave him an annual income of £20,000 (equivalent to £3,300,000 in 2021).[6] He also controlled both of the borough parliamentary seats of Malton and one seat for the single-member borough of Higham Ferrers (Northants), along with twenty-three livings and five chaplaincies in the church.[3]: 10 In July he was appointed Lord Lieutenant and custos rotulorum of the West Riding in Yorkshire, Lord Lieutenant of York city, and custos rotulorum of York city and county. In 1751–52 Rockingham joined White's, the Jockey Club and the Royal Society.[3]: 10
Rockingham's maiden speech was on 17 March 1752 in support of the bill which disposed of Scottish lands confiscated in the aftermath of the Jacobite rising of 1745. He wanted the lands cultivated by people "employed in husbandry & handicrafts" who repudiated "plunder, rapine & rebellion". He said "the highlanders have remained in their ancient state, prolific, bold, idle, & consequently hives of rebellion". He compared his favoured policy with the policy which his ancestor Lord Strafford had used in Ireland. Rockingham's speech was not well received, with Horace Walpole criticising him for venturing into "a debate so much above his force".[3]: 11 Rockingham's uncle William Murray, the Solicitor-General, believed him to be poorly educated, so he employed Quarme as Rockingham's tutor again. Rockingham was for four months to study Demosthenes for oratory, and to learn the histories of the Assyrian, Persian, Greek and Roman empires along with modern history. Murray wanted Rockingham to take after Sir Walter Raleigh.[3]: 11
Lord of the Bedchamber
In 1752, Rockingham was appointed
In 1760, George II died, and his grandson ascended the throne as George III. Rockingham was allied to the Duke of Newcastle and his supporters, whilst the new King had a favourite in Lord Bute. Rockingham believed that Bute and his supporters wanted to take "the whole Administration & Government of this country into their hands" and wanted Newcastle to resign now before he would be inevitably disposed of. Rockingham believed that the revolution in British politics since George III's accession was harmful to the country, since it removed the Whigs from their ascendancy which had settled the constitution and secured the House of Hanover on the British throne. Rockingham wrote to Newcastle:
...without flattery to your Grace, I must look and ever shall upon you and your connections as the solid foundations on which every good which has happened to this country since the [Glorious] Revolution, have been erected. ... What a medley of government is probably soon to take place & when it does what an alarm will ensue![3]: 37
Rockingham resigned as Lord of the Bedchamber on 3 November 1762 in protest at the King's policies and other Whigs associated with the Duke of Newcastle did the same.[3]: 43–44 The next month the King removed Rockingham from the office of Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding, Lord Lieutenant of the city and county of York, as custos rotulorum of the North and West Riding, as custos rotulorum of the city and county of York and as Vice Admiral of York and county.[3]: 45
Over the next several years, Rockingham gradually became the leader of those of Newcastle's supporters who were unwilling to reconcile themselves to the premierships of Bute and his successor, George Grenville.
Prime Minister: 1765–1766
The king's dislike, as well as Grenville's general lack of parliamentary support, led to his dismissal in 1765, and, following negotiations conducted through the medium of the king's uncle, the
Rockingham's administration was dominated by the American issue. Rockingham wished for repeal of the Stamp Act 1765 and won a Commons vote on the repeal resolution by 275 to 167 in 1766.[3]: 113 However Rockingham also passed the Declaratory Act, which asserted that the British Parliament had the right to legislate for the American colonies in all cases whatsoever.
However, internal dissent within the cabinet led to his resignation and the appointment of Lord Chatham as prime minister (the Duke of Grafton was appointed First Lord of the Treasury, one of the few cases in which those two offices were separate).
Opposition: 1766–1782
Rockingham spent the next sixteen years in opposition. He was a keen supporter of constitutional rights for colonists.
Rockingham wrote to Edmund Burke on 14 February 1771: "I fear indeed the future struggles of the people in defence of their Constitutional Rights will grow weaker and weaker. It is much too probable that the power and influence of the Crown will increase rapidly. We live at the period when for the first time since the Revolution, the power and influence of the Crown is held out, as the main and chief and only support of Government. If we...do not exert now, we may accelerate the abject state to which the Constitution may be reduced".[11] On 24 May 1771 Benjamin Franklin arrived from the Rectory of Thornhill, where he had stayed with the Rev. John Michell, vicar to Rockingham's kinsman, fellow leading politician and keen advocate of colonists' rights Sir George Savile.[12] Rockingham wrote to Augustus Keppel on 3 November 1779, saying that he believed the war against America could not be won, that the government was corrupt but not unpopular, and that the longer this continued the greater the danger to the liberties and the constitution of Britain: "Perhaps a total change of men and measures, & system in the Government: of this country might have effect on the councils of some foreign countries...who might think that it was no longer a Court system to combat, but that the whole nation would unite & make the utmost efforts".[13]
Rockingham was recruited to hunt down the Cragg Vale Coiners. He had thirty Coiners arrested by Christmas Day 1769.
Prime Minister: 1782
In 1782 he was appointed prime minister for a second time (with
Due to rising unemployment, in this second premiership, Rockingham's administration saw the passage of
Paul Langford has asserted that the Rockingham administration "represented a landmark in constitutional history. The ministerial changes of 1782 involved a more extensive upheaval among office-holders than any since 1714, virtually replacing one administration with another drawn from opposition".[15]
Rockingham's second term was short-lived, for Lord Rockingham died fourteen weeks later at the beginning of July from an influenza epidemic. He was replaced as prime minister by Lord Shelburne, who was more reluctant to accept the total independence of America and proposed a form of Dominion status, but by April 1783 he succeeded in securing peace with America and this feat remains his legacy.[16]
Rockingham was buried in the Strafford family vault in York Minster in Yorkshire.[17]
Legacy
Rockingham's estates, but not his marquessate, passed to his nephew William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam. Burke wrote to Fitzwilliam on 3 July 1782: "You are Lord Rockingham in every thing. ... I have no doubt that you will take it in good part, that his old friends, who were attached to him by every tie of affection, and of principle, and among others myself, should look to you, and should not think it an act of forwardness and intrusion to offer you their services".[3]: 383 On 7 July 150 supporters of Rockingham met at Fitzwilliam's house and decided to withdraw support for Lord Shelburne's administration. The old Rockingham party fragmented, with Fox and the Duke of Portland leading a coalition of Whigs. The Whig party further split over the French Revolution, with Burke writing to Fitzwilliam on 4 January 1797: "As to our old friends, they are so many individuals, not a jot more separated from your Lordship, than they are from one another. There is no mutual affection, communication, or concert between them".[3]: 385
The Whig historian
They were men worthy to have charged by the side of
Chalgrove, or to have exchanged the last embrace with Russell on the scaffold in Lincoln's Inn Fields. They carried into politics the same high principles of virtue which regulated their private dealings, nor would they stoop to promote even the noblest and most salutary ends by means which honour and probity condemn. Such men were Lord John Cavendish, Sir George Savile, and others whom we hold in honour as the second founders of the Whig party, as the restorers of its pristine health and energy after half a century of degeneracy. The chief of this respectable band was the Marquess of Rockingham, a man of splendid fortune, excellent sense, and stainless character. He was indeed nervous to such a degree that, to the very close of his life, he never rose without great reluctance and embarrassment to address the House of Lords. But, though not a great orator, he had in a high degree some of the qualities of a statesman. He chose his friends well; and he had, in an extraordinary degree, the art of attaching them to him by ties of the most honourable kind. The cheerful fidelity with which they adhered to him through many years of almost hopeless opposition was less admirable than the disinterestedness and delicacy which they showed when he rose to power.[18]
Places named after Lord Rockingham
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United States
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Cabinets of Lord Rockingham
1765–1766
Portfolio | Minister | Took office | Left office |
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* | 13 July 1765 | 30 July 1766 | |
Lord Chancellor | 16 January 1761 | 30 July 1766 | |
Lord President of the Council | 12 July 1765 | 30 July 1766 | |
Lord Privy Seal | 30 July 1765 | 30 July 1766 | |
Chancellor of the Exchequer | 16 July 1765 | 2 August 1766 | |
Secretary of State for the Northern Department | 12 July 1765 | 14 May 1766 | |
23 May 1766 | 20 January 1768 | ||
Henry Seymour Conway | 12 July 1765 | 23 May 1766 | |
Secretary of State for the Southern Department | 23 May 1766 | 29 July 1766 | |
First Lord of the Admiralty | 1763 | 1766 | |
Master-General of the Ordnance | 1763 | 1770 | |
Minister without Portfolio | 1765 | 31 October 1765 |
1782
Portfolio | Minister | Took office | Left office |
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* | 27 March 1782 | 1 July 1782 | |
Lord Chancellor | 3 June 1778 | 7 April 1783 | |
Lord President of the Council | 27 March 1782 | 2 April 1783 | |
Lord Privy Seal | 1782 | 1783 | |
Chancellor of the Exchequer | 27 March 1782 | 10 July 1782 | |
Secretary of State for the Home Department | 27 March 1782 | 10 July 1782 | |
| 27 March 1782 | 5 July 1782 | |
First Lord of the Admiralty | 1782 | 1783 | |
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster | 17 April 1782 | 29 August 1783 | |
Master-General of the Ordnance | 1782 | 1783 | |
Commander-in-Chief of the Forces | 1782 | 1783 |
Titles
- The Hon. Charles Watson-Wentworth (1730–1733)
- Viscount Higham (1733–1746)
- Earl of Malton (1746–1750)
- The Rt. Hon. The Earl Malton (1750–1750)
- The Most Hon. The Marquess of Rockingham (1750–1751)
- The Most Hon. The Marquess of Rockingham, FRS (1751–1761)
- The Most Hon. The Marquess of Rockingham, KG, FRS (1761–1765)
- The Most Hon. The Marquess of Rockingham, KG, PC, FRS (1765–1782)
Ancestry
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Notes
- ^ a b c Yorke, Philip Chesney (1911). Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 978–980. . In
- ^ Rigg, James McMullen (1899). Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 60. London: Smith, Elder & Co. . In
- ^ ISBN 9780823209705.
- levéeswere called "drawing rooms", with the sense originally that the privileged members of court would gather in the drawing room outside the king's bedroom, where he would make his first formal public appearance of the day.
- Oxford DNB.
- ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/68349. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Married in Sir John Ramsden's house in Golden Square, by special licence, by the Archbishop of York. Source: The Register of Marriages in the Parish of St James within the Liberty of Westminster. 1723-1754. 26 February 1752.
- ISBN 978-1291916454.
- ISBN 978-0-19-821846-3.
- ISBN 9780773513884.
- ^ Journal of Jonathan Williams, Jr., of His Tour with Franklin and Others through Northern England, [28 May 1771]: résumé Journal of Jonathan Williams, Jr., of His Tour with Franklin and Others through Northern England
- ^ O'Gorman, Frank (1975). The Rise of Party in England. The Rockingham Whigs. 1760–1782. George Allen & Unwin. p. 401.
- ^ See Lewis, Samuel, ed. (1848). "Fenton – Fersfield". A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 25 October 2012. e.g. Fenton Kirk and Ferensby
- ISBN 9780198207337.
- ^ "Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham". Past Prime Ministers. UK Government.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/28878. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Macaulay, Thomas Babington (October 1844). "The Earl of Chatham". Edinburgh Review.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/9427. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/12607. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ a b Cokayne, George E. (1900). Complete baronetage. Exeter : W. Pollard & co., ltd. p. 165.
- ^ a b Burke, John (1838). A genealogical and heraldic history of the extinct and dormant baronetcies of England. p. 429. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
- ^ a b Lee, Sidney (1887). . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 12. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ a b Cokayne (1900), p. 35.
- ^ a b Power, D’Arcy (1898). William Harvey. New York: Longmans Green & Co. p. 7.
- ^ a b Goodwin, Gordon (1891). Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney (eds.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 25. London: Smith, Elder & Co. . In
- ^ a b Burke (1838), p. 550
Further reading
- C. Collyer, 'The Rockinghams and Yorkshire politics, 1742–61', The Thoresby Miscellany, 12, Thoresby Society, 41 (1954), pp. 352–82.
- A. Cox and A. Cox, Rockingham Pottery and Porcelain, 1745–1842 (1983).
- G. H. Guttridge, The Early Career of Lord Rockingham, 1730–1765 (University of California, 1952).
- R. J. Hopper, 'The second marquis of Rockingham, coin collector', Antiquaries Journal, 62 (1982), pp. 316–46.
- G. Thomas, earl of Albemarle [G. T. Keppel], Memoirs of the Marquis of Rockingham and His Contemporaries, 2 vols. (1852).
- R. B. Wragg, 'The Rockingham mausoleum (1784–1793)', Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, 52 (1980), pp. 157–66.
Thesis Bloy, Marjorie (1986) Rockingham and Yorkshire : The political, economic and social role of Charles Watson-Wentworth, the second Marquis of Rockingham. PhD thesis, University of Sheffield.