Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave

Lord Mulgrave was a younger son of Constantine Phipps, 1st Baron Mulgrave of New Ross), by his wife the Hon. Lepell, daughter of John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey, and was educated at Eton and the Middle Temple.

Military career

Lord Mulgrave entered the army in 1775, and eventually rose to the rank of General. He saw service in the Caribbean during the American Revolutionary War. In 1793 he was made Colonel of the

The post of Foreign Secretary was generally thought to be beyond his powers. Thomas Grenville, writing to the Marquis of Buckingham, expressed an opinion that he was only "put in ad interim until Lord Wellesley's arrival, who is expected in June". Mulgrave, however, showed himself fairly capable in debate. On 11 February 1805 he had to announce the breach with Spain, and to defend the seizure of the treasure ships at Ferrol before the declaration of war, and on 20 June to defend the coalition of 1805. He composed an ode on the victory of Trafalgar, and it was set to music by Thomas Arne. On 23 January 1806 Pitt died. On 28 January 1806 Mulgrave laid before the House of Lords copies of the treaties recently concluded with Russia and Sweden, to which Prussia and Austria had acceded, and on 4 February he explained their object. Three days later, on 7 February, he resigned, with the bulk of those who had been Pitt's friends.

With the death of Pitt and the formation of the Ministry of All the Talents in 1806, Mulgrave, along with the other Pittites, went into opposition, but when the Pittites returned to power in 1807, Mulgrave served in various major offices, first as First Lord of the Admiralty (1807–1810), then as Master-General of the Ordnance (1810–1819), and finally as Minister without Portfolio (1819–1820). As First Lord he was heavily involved in planning both the successful expedition against Copenhagen in 1807, and the disastrous one to Walcheren in 1809. After moving to the ordnance board, Mulgrave became less active politically. In 1812, he was created Viscount Normanby and Earl of Mulgrave in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.^[3]

Family

The Earl of Mulgrave's grandfather William Phipps had married Lady

Lord Mulgrave married Martha Sophia, daughter of pottery manufacturer Christopher Thomson Maling, at St Michael's, Houghton-le-Spring in 1795. He died in April 1831, aged 76, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Constantine, who was later created Marquess of Normanby. His second son was the Hon. Sir Charles Beaumont Phipps and his third, Edmund Phipps, a lawyer and author. The couple's fourth son, the Hon. Augustus Frederick (b. 1809) became honorary canon of Ely. Of their five daughters, only one survived childhood.

The Countess of Mulgrave died on 17 October 1849.

See also

• Ramsay Weston Phipps

References

Attribution:

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Phipps, Henry". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Mulgrave