Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool

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The Rt Hon. The Earl of Liverpool
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 8 June 1812 – 9 April 1827
Preceded by	Spencer Perceval
Succeeded by	George Canning

Born	June 7, 1770 London
Died	December 4, 1828 Kingston upon Thames, Surrey
Political party	Tory

Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (June 7, 1770 – December 4, 1828) was an English politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

The son of George III's close adviser Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool and his part-Indian first wife, Amelia Watts, Robert Jenkinson was educated at Charterhouse School and Christ Church, Oxford. He entered the House of Commons in 1790 for Rye, a seat he would hold until 1803, and rose quickly through the Tory ranks. He served as a member of the Board of Control for India (1793-1796), and as Master of the Mint (1799-1801).

In Henry Addington's government Hawkesbury entered the cabinet as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in which capacity he negotiated the Treaty of Amiens with France. In 1803 he was summoned to the House of Lords through a writ of acceleration in his father's junior title of Baron Hawkesbury.

In later governments, Hawkesbury continued to serve in important cabinet positions - as Home Secretary in Pitt's second government and the Duke of Portland's second government, and then as Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in Perceval's government.

When Perceval was assassinated in May, 1812, Lord Liverpool succeeded him as prime minister. Liverpool's ministry was a long and eventful one - it saw Britain's victory in the Napoleonic Wars, the Congress of Vienna, and the eventful early years of peace which followed. Liverpool, aware that his abilities were no more than moderate, generally stayed in the background, letting more brilliant subordinates like Lord Castlereagh, George Canning, the Duke of Wellington, Robert Peel, and William Huskisson, all of whom served under him, take leading parts. Nevertheless, Liverpool was himself a skilful politician, and held together the liberal and reactionary wings of the Tory party, which his successors, Canning, Goedrich and Wellington all failed to do.

Although Lord Liverpool argued for the abolition of the slave trade at the Congress of Vienna, he was generally opposed to reform, often embracing repressive measures to ensure the status quo. He suspended Habeas Corpus in both Great Britain (1817) and Ireland (1822). Following the Peterloo Massacre in 1819, his government imposed the repressive Six Acts legislation which limited, among other things, free speech and the right to gather for peaceful demonstration. He did support the repeal of the Combination Laws banning workers from combining into trade unions in 1824, although the powers of these unions were restricted in 1835 following strikes. He was also virulently opposed to granting political equality to Roman Catholics.

Liverpool retired on 9 April 1827 following a paralytic stroke on 17 February, and died in December the following year. He was succeeded in the Earldom of Liverpool by his younger half-brother Charles Cecil Cope Jenkinson, 3rd Earl of Liverpool. It is now generally accepted that Lord Liverpool was of Anglo-Indian descent.

Lord Liverpool's legacy includes being known as a 'reconciler of men' and a 'blurrer [sic] of political differences'.

Liverpool Street in London is named after Lord Liverpool.

[edit] Lord Liverpool's Administration, June 1812 - April 1827

Lord Liverpool - First Lord of the Treasury and Leader of the House of Lords
Lord Eldon - Lord Chancellor
Lord Harrowby - Lord President of the Council
Lord Westmorland - Lord Privy Seal
Lord Sidmouth - Secretary of State for the Home Department
Lord Castlereagh (Lord Londonderry after 1821) - Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the House of Commons
Lord Bathurst - Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
Lord Melville - First Lord of the Admiralty
Nicholas Vansittart - Chancellor of the Exchequer
Lord Mulgrave - Master-General of the Ordnance
Lord Buckinghamshire - President of the Board of Control
Charles Bathurst - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Lord Camden - minister without portfolio

[edit] Changes

late 1812 - Lord Camden leaves the Cabinet.
September, 1814 - William Wellesley-Pole (Lord Maryborough from 1821), the Master of the Mint, enters the Cabinet.
February, 1816 - George Canning succeeds Lord Buckinghamshire at the Board of Control
January, 1818 - Frederick John Robinson, the President of the Board of Trade, enters the Cabinet.
January, 1819 - The Duke of Wellington succeeds Lord Mulgrave as Master-General of the Ordnance. Lord Mulgrave becomes minister without portfolio.
1820 - Lord Mulgrave leaves the cabinet.
January, 1821 - Charles Bathurst succeeds Canning as President of the Board of Control, remaining also at the Duchy of Lancaster.
January, 1822 - Robert Peel succeeds Lord Sidmouth as Home Secretary
February, 1822 - Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn succeeds Charles Bathurst at the Board of Control. Bathurst remains at the Duchy of Lancaster and in the Cabinet.
September, 1822 - Following the suicide of Lord Londonderry, George Canning becomes Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons.
January, 1823 - Vansittart, elevated to the peerage as Lord Bexley, succeeds Charles Bathurst as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. F.J. Robinson succeeds Vansittart as Chancellor of the Exchequer. He is succeeded at the Board of Trade by William Huskisson.
1823 - Lord Maryborough, the Master of the Mint, leaves the Cabinet. His successor in the office is not a Cabinet member.

[edit] External link

Robert Jenkinson at Find-A-Grave

Political offices
Preceded by: Sir George Yonge, Bt	Master of the Mint 1799 – 1801	Succeeded by: Charles Perceval
Preceded by: The Lord Grenville	Foreign Secretary 1801 – 1804	Succeeded by: The Lord Harrowby
Preceded by: Uncertain	Leader of the House of Lords 1803 – 1806	Succeeded by: The Lord Grenville
Preceded by: Charles Philip Yorke	Home Secretary 1804 – 1806	Succeeded by: The Earl Spencer
Preceded by: William Pitt the Younger	Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports 1806 – 1827	Succeeded by: The Duke of Wellington
Preceded by: The Earl Spencer	Home Secretary 1807 – 1809	Succeeded by: Richard Ryder
Preceded by: The Lord Grenville	Leader of the House of Lords 1807 – 1827	Succeeded by: The Viscount Goderich
Preceded by: Viscount Castlereagh	Secretary of State for War and the Colonies 1809 – 1812	Succeeded by: The Earl Bathurst
Preceded by: Spencer Perceval	Prime Minister 1812 – 1827	Succeeded by: George Canning

Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by: Charles Jenkinson	Earl of Liverpool 1808–1828	Succeeded by: Charles Jenkinson
Preceded by: Charles Jenkinson	Baron Hawkesbury (by Writ in Acceleration) 1803–1828	Succeeded by: Charles Jenkinson