John Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton

John Cam Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton,

While at Cambridge Broughton became good friends with Lord Byron, who accompanied him on a tour in Spain, Greece and Turkey in 1809. Hobhouse was present at the Battle of Dresden in August 1813, and, following the Coalition armies into France, he saw Louis XVIII enter Paris in May 1814.^[1]

In 1815 Broughton was again in Paris after the return of Napoleon Bonaparte from Elba (see Hundred Days), and showed his dislike of the House of Bourbon and his sympathy with Bonaparte by writing in 1816 a pamphlet entitled The substance of some letters written by an Englishman resident in Paris during the last reign of the emperor Napoleon. This caused some offence in England and more in France, and the French translation was seized by the government. Both the translator and the printer were imprisoned.^[3]

A further period of travel with Byron followed, and at this time Hobhouse wrote some notes to the fourth canto of

In February 1819 Hobhouse was the Radical candidate at a by-election for the representation of the City of Westminster, but he failed to secure election. He had already gained some popularity by writing in favour of reform,^[4] and in 1819 spoke the following words: "I am a man chosen for the people, by the people; and, if elected, I will do no other business than that of the people".^[5]

In the same year (1819) he issued A defence of the People in reply to Lord Erskine's "Two Defences of the Whigs," followed by A trifling mistake in Thomas, Lord Erskine's recent preface. The House of Commons declared this latter pamphlet a breach of privilege. Hobhouse was arrested for the pamphlet on 14 December 1819. In spite of an appeal to the court of king's bench, he remained imprisoned in Newgate Prison until the end of the following February. However this proceeding only increased his popularity, and at the general election of 1820 he was returned for Westminster.^[4]

In parliament Hobhouse proved a valuable recruit to the Reform party,

In February 1851 Hobhouse went to the House of Lords as Baron Broughton, of Broughton-de-Gyfford in the County of Wiltshire.^[4][8] He left office when Russell resigned in February 1852.^[4]

Later life

In 1840 Hobhouse was appointed

In 1852 Hobhouse was also made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB),^[11] and took little part in political life, being mainly occupied in literary pursuits and in correspondence. Lord Broughton was a partner in Whitbread's brewery and a fellow of the Royal Society.^[4] He was one of the founders of the Royal Geographical Society which formed on 16 July 1830.^[12]

In the opinion of the author of his biography in the

Lord Broughton married Lady Julia, daughter of George Hay, 7th Marquess of Tweeddale, in 1828. They had three daughters.^[4] Lady Julia died of tuberculosis in April 1835.^{[citation needed]}

Hobhouse died in London on 3 June 1869. Being without heir male, the barony lapsed on his death. The baronetcy passed to his nephew, Charles Parry Hobhouse.^[4]

Works

• Hobhouse took the Hulsean prize in 1808 for his essay on the Origin and Intention of Sacrifices.^[1]

Hobhouse edited and published:

• The Substance of Some letters written from Paris during the last reign of the Emperor Napoleon, vol. 1, Philadelphia: M. Thomas, 1816
• The substance of some letters written from Paris during the last reign of the Emperor Napoleon, vol. 2 (Two volumes ed.), London: Redgeways, 1817

Hobhouse wrote and published:

• Journey through Albania, 1813 ^[4]
• Historical Illustrations of the Fourth Canto of Childe Harold, 1818 ^[4]
• Italy: Remarks Made in Several Visits, from the Year 1816 to 1854, Murray, reissued by
  ISBN 978-1-108-00398-8
• A defence of the People in reply to Lord Erskine's "Two Defences of the Whigs," followed by A trifling mistake in Thomas, Lord Erskine's recent preface, 1819 [4]
• Recollections of a Long Life, 1865 ^[4]
• The Prelude to Lord Byron's Epitah to a Dog, 1808

For private circulation, and he left (in manuscript) Diaries, Correspondence, and Memoranda, etc., not to be opened till 1900, extracts from which were published by his daughter, Lady Dorchester, also under the title of Recollections from a Long Life, 1909.^[4]

A collection of Hobhouse's diaries, correspondence and memoranda is in the British Museum.^[4]

Depiction in popular culture

Hobhouse was played by the character actor Raymond Lovell in the 1949 period drama The Bad Lord Byron.

Notes

References

• "Hobhouse, John Cam (HBHS803JC)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
• Broughton, John Cam Hobhouse Baron; Burdett, Sir Francis (1819), An Authentic Narrative of the Events of the Westminster Election, which Commenced on Saturday, February 13th, and Closed on Wednesday, March 3d, 1819: Including the Speeches of the Candidates, Sir Francis Burdett, and Others; Together with the Report of the Westminster Reformers, R. Stodart, p. 105
• Col N.C.E. Kenrick, The Story of the Wiltshire Regiment (Duke of Edinburgh's): The 62nd and 99th Foot (1756–1959), the Militia and the Territorials, the Service Battalions and all those others who have served or been affiliated with the Moonrakers, Aldershot: Gale & Polden, 1963.
• Kleinig, John (2014), On Loyalty and Loyalties: The Contours of a Problematic Virtue, Oxford University Press, pp. 113–114,
  ISBN 978-0-19-937126-6

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911), "John Cam Hobhouse, Baron Broughton", Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 4 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 655–656 endnotes:
  • T. Moore, Life of Lord Byron (London, 1837–1840);
  • Greville Memoirs (London, 1896);
  • Barker, George Fisher Russell (1891). "Hobhouse, John Cam" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 27. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 47–50. ;
  • The Times, 4 June 1869;
  • Spencer Walpole, History of England (London, 1890).

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by John Hobhouse
• Texts on Wikisource:
  • "Broughton, John Cam Hobhouse, 1st Lord", A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, 1910, p. 49 – via Wikisource
  • "John Cam Hobhouse, Lord Broughton", Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 4 (9th ed.), 1878, pp. 381–382