Henry Goulburn
Lord Liverpool | |
---|---|
Preceded by | Charles Grant |
Succeeded by | William Lamb |
Personal details | |
Born | London | 19 March 1784
Died | 12 January 1856 | (aged 71)
Nationality | British |
Political party | Tory, Peelite |
Spouse | Hon. Jane Montagu (died 1857) |
Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
Henry Goulburn
Background and education
Born in London, Goulburn was the eldest son of a wealthy planter, Munbee Goulburn, of Amity Hall, Vere Parish, Jamaica, and his wife Susannah, eldest daughter of William Chetwynd, 4th Viscount Chetwynd. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge.[1]
Goulburn lived in Betchworth, Dorking, in Betchworth House for much of his life.
Sugar plantation owner
Goulburn's inheritance included a number of sugar estates in Jamaica, with Amity Hall in the parish of Vere, now Clarendon Parish, being the most important. Slave labour was still being used to work the sugar plantations when he inherited the estates.[2][3]
Goulburn never visited Jamaica himself due to his health and political work. He relied on attorneys to manage his estates on his behalf. One attorney, in particular, Thomas Samson, held the top job at the estate from 1802 to 1818 and earned a reputation for cruelty towards Goulburn's slaves.
By 1818, the income from his Jamaican estates halved to less than £3,000 "although he did console himself that the condition of his slaves had probably improved".[2]
In 1818, Henry Goulburn's brother was sent to inspect the Jamaican Sugar Plantation. Thomas Samson had already been dismissed over his treatment of slaves.[4] Henry Goulburn wrote to Samson in June 1818:
"Since my brother’s return to England, I have had a great deal of conversation with him respecting the management of my Estate in Jamaica, the state of the Negroes and other particulars connected with it which from want of personal inspection of the property I have hitherto but imperfectly understood. The result had been a conviction upon my mind that as far as regards the negroes of the Estate, the system hitherto used by you had been founded altogether upon erroneous principles which (though I believe to be too commonly followed on the generality of estates in Jamaica) are such as I can never approve because I cannot consider them consistent with the duty which I owe to the negroes which belong to me....
You have recently been possessed of a considerable property which makes the management of my Estate less if at all an object to you... therefore your removal from Amity Hall cannot inconvenience you in a pecuniary point of view."[4]
Political career
Chancellor of the Exchequer
In 1808, Goulburn became Member of Parliament for
In the finance domain, Goulburn's chief achievements were to reduce the interest rate on the part of the national debt and allow anyone to sell beer upon payment of a small annual fee, a complete change of policy about the drink traffic. Leaving office with Wellington in November 1830, Goulburn was
According to the
Goulburn was a member of the Canterbury Association from 27 March 1848.[8]
Family
Frederick Goulburn (1788–1837), the first Colonial Secretary of New South Wales, was his younger brother. Henry Goulburn married the Hon. Jane, third daughter of Matthew Montagu, 4th Baron Rokeby, in 1811. They had four children. He died on 12 January 1856, aged 71. His wife died the following year.
Notes
- ^ "Goulburn, Henry (GLBN801H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ a b "Rt. Hon. Henry Goulburn". Legacies of British Slave-ownership. Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
- S2CID 144937768.
- ^ a b "Slaves' Living Conditions and the childrearing problem at Amity Hall" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 September 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
- ^ a b Chisholm 1911, p. 283.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ "Rt. Hon. Henry Goulburn". University College London. Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2018. Retrieved on 20 March 2019.
- ^ Blain, Rev. Michael (2007). The Canterbury Association (1848–1852): A Study of Its Members' Connections (PDF). Christchurch: Project Canterbury. pp. 36–37. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 January 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
References
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Goulburn, Henry". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 283–284. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
Further reading
- Barker, G. F. R.; Eastwood, David. "Goulburn, Henry (1784–1856)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/11148. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Jenkins, Brian {Henry Goulburn 1784-1856: A Political Biography} McGill-Queen's University Press, ISBN 0-7735-1371-X