Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool

British noble and statesman

The Right Honourable

The Earl of Liverpool

Portrait by George Romney

President of the Board of Trade
In office
23 August 1786 – 7 June 1804
Monarch| George III
Prime Minister| William Pitt the Younger
Henry Addington
Preceded by| The Lord Sydney (President of the Committee on Trade and Foreign Plantations)
Succeeded by| The Duke of Montrose
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
In office
6 September 1786 – 11 November 1803
Monarch| George III
Prime Minister| William Pitt the Younger
Henry Addington
Preceded by| The Earl of Clarendon
Succeeded by| Lord Pelham
Personal details
Born| 26 April 1729
Oxfordshire, England
Died| 17 December 1808(1808-12-17) (aged 79)
London, England
Spouses|

Amelia Watts

(m. 1769; died 1770)​

Catherine Bishopp

(m. 1782)​

Children| 3, including Robert and Charles
Alma mater| University College, Oxford

Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool (26 April 1729 – 17 December 1808), known as Lord Hawkesbury between 1786 and 1796, was a British statesman. He was the father of Prime Minister Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool.

## Early years, family and education

[edit]

He was born in Winchester, the eldest son of Colonel Charles Jenkinson (1693–1750) and Amarantha (daughter of Wolfran Cornewall). The earl was the grandson of Sir Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Baronet, of Walcot, Oxfordshire. The Jenkinson family was descended from Anthony Jenkinson (died 1611), who was a sea-captain, merchant, and traveller and the first known Englishman to penetrate into Central Asia. Liverpool was educated at Charterhouse School and University College, Oxford, where he graduated Master of Arts in 1752.[1]

## Political career

[edit]

In 1761, Liverpool entered parliament as member for Cockermouth and was made Under-Secretary of State by Lord Bute. He won the favour of George III, and when Bute retired Jenkinson became the leader of the "King's Friends" in the House of Commons. In 1763, George Grenville appointed him joint Secretary to the Treasury.[1]

In 1766, after a short retirement, he became a Lord of the Admiralty and then a Lord of the Treasury in the Grafton administration. In 1772, Jenkinson became a Privy Councillor and Vice Treasurer of Ireland, and in 1775 he purchased the lucrative sinecure of Clerk of the Pells in Ireland and became Master of the Mint of Ireland.[1]

From 1778 until the close of Lord North's ministry in 1782 he was Secretary at War. From 1786 to 1804, he was President of the Board of Trade and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and he was popularly regarded as enjoying the confidence of the king to a special degree.[1]

Addiscombe Place, c. 1859

In 1786 he was created Baron Hawkesbury, of Hawkesbury in the County of Gloucester, and ten years later, Earl of Liverpool. He also succeeded his cousin in 1790 as the 7th Baronet of Walcot and to the family estates. He lived at Addiscombe Place, Surrey and in Hawkesbury, Gloucestershire. He died in London on 17 December 1808.[1]

## Family

[edit]

Liverpool was twice married. In 1769 he married first Amelia, daughter of William Watts, governor of Fort William, Bengal, and of his wife, better known as Begum Johnson.[1] Amelia died in July 1770, a month after the birth of her only child, Robert.[2]

Liverpool married secondly Catherine Cope (née Bishopp), daughter of Sir Cecil Bishopp, 6th Baronet, and widow of Sir Charles Cope, 2nd Baronet,[1] on 22 June 1782 at her house in Hertford Street, London.[3] They had one son, Charles, who became 3rd Earl of Liverpool, and one daughter, Charlotte, who married James Grimston, 1st Earl of Verulam.[2] His stepdaughter Arabella Diana Cope was married to John Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset and Charles Whitworth, 1st Earl Whitworth.[4]

On Lord Liverpool's death, he was succeeded by his son from his first marriage, Robert, who became a prominent politician and eventually Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.[5] The Countess of Liverpool died in October 1827, aged 82.[3]

## Legacy

[edit]

Liverpool wrote several political works, but according to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, other than for his Treatise on the Coins of the Realm (1805) these are "without striking merits".[1]

The Hawkesbury River in New South Wales, Australia and Hawkesbury, Ontario, Canada were named after Jenkinson shortly after he was created Baron Hawkesbury.

At least two ships were named after Jenkinson under his title of Lord Hawkesbury: one launched in America in 1781—presumably under another name—but entered in Lloyd's Register from 1787 as the Lord Hawkesbury, sailing as a whaler; and the East Indiaman Lord Hawkesbury, launched in 1787.

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Chisholm 1911.
2. ^ a b Petrie 1954, p. 4.
3. ^ a b Cokayne 1906, p. 19.
4. ^ "Arabella Sackville, Duchess of Dorset - Bexhill Museum". www.bexhillmuseum.org.uk. Retrieved 14 April 2025.
5. ^ Petrie 1954, p. 130.

## References

[edit]

* Cokayne, George Edward (1906), Complete Baronetage, vol. V, Exeter: W. Pollard & Company, LCCN 06023564
* Petrie, Charles (1954). Lord Liverpool and His Times. London: J. Barrie. ISBN 9787800284403. `{{cite book}}`: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)

Attribution:

* This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Liverpool, Earls of". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 804.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Cannon, John (2008) [2004]. "Jenkinson, Charles, first earl of Liverpool (1729–1808)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/14737. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
* Hamilton, John Andrew (1892). "Jenkinson, Charles (1727-1808)" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 29\. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 309–310.
* Spencer, Howard (2009), "Jenkinson, Hon. Charles Cecil Cope (1784–1851), of Pitchford Hall, Salop and Buxted Park, Suss.", in Fisher, D. R. (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1820-1832, Cambridge University Press

Political offices

Preceded by

Francis Gashry

|  Treasurer of the Ordnance
1762–1763  | Succeeded by

John Ross Mackye

Preceded by

The Lord Sydney

as President of the Committee
on Trade and Foreign Plantations  |  President of the Board of Trade
1786–1804  | Succeeded by

The Duke of Montrose

Preceded by

The Earl of Clarendon

|  Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
1786–1803  | Succeeded by

The Lord Pelham

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by

Sir John Mordaunt
Percy Wyndham-O'Brien

|  Member of Parliament for Cockermouth
1761–1767
With:  Sir John Mordaunt | Succeeded by

Sir John Mordaunt
John Elliot

Preceded by

John Stanwix
Philip Honywood

|  Member of Parliament for Appleby
1767–1772
With:  Philip Honywood | Succeeded by

Fletcher Norton
Philip Honywood

Preceded by

Edward Harvey
John Roberts

|  Member of Parliament for Harwich
1772–1774
With:  Edward Harvey | Succeeded by

Edward Harvey
John Robinson

Preceded by

Samuel Martin
William Ashburnham

|  Member of Parliament for Hastings
1774–1780
With:  The Viscount Palmerston | Succeeded by

The Viscount Palmerston
John Ord

Preceded by

Grey Cooper
Paul Wentworth

|  Member of Parliament for Saltash
1780–1786
With:  Grey Cooper 1780–1784
Charles Ambler 1784–1786  | Succeeded by

Charles Ambler
The Earl of Mornington

Peerage of Great Britain
New creation |  Earl of Liverpool
1796–180  | Succeeded by

Robert Jenkinson

Baron Hawkesbury
1786–1803
Baronetage of England
Preceded by

Banks Jenkinson

|  Baronet
1790–1808  | Succeeded by

Robert Jenkinson

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* v
* t
* e

Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool

* Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1812–1827)
* MP for Appleby and Rye

Premiership|

* Events
* Blanketeers (1817)
* Cato Street Conspiracy (1820)
* Ely and Littleport riots (1816)
* Radical War (1820)
* The Trial of Queen Caroline
* Legislation
* Corn Laws
* Treaty of Ghent
* Gagging Acts
* Pains and Penalties Bill 1820
* Seditious Meetings Act 1817
* Seditious Meetings Act 1819
* Six Acts
* Slave Trade Act 1824
* Foreign policy:
* Allied sovereigns' visit to England
* Battle of Copenhagen (1807)
* English Wars (Scandinavia)
* Gunboat War
* Treaty of Amiens

Legacy|

* Establishments
* Royal National Lifeboat Institution
* Kingston Bridge, London
* Wellington Arch
* Works
* The Black Dwarf (journal)
* British Tars Towing the Danish Fleet into Harbour
* Coningsby (novel)
* The Masque of Anarchy

Election victories|

* 1812 United Kingdom general election
* 1818 United Kingdom general election
* 1820 United Kingdom general election
* 1826 United Kingdom general election

Family|

* Louisa Jenkinson (first wife)
* Mary Jenkinson (second wife)
* Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool (father)
* Amelia Watts (mother)
* Charles Jenkinson, 3rd Earl of Liverpool (half-brother)
* Selina Jenkinson (niece)
* Cecil Foljambe (great nephew)
* Arabella Diana Cope (step-sister)
* William Watts (maternal grandfather)
* Begum Johnson (maternal grandmother)
* Sir Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Baronet (paternal great grandfather)
* Wolfran Cornewall (paternal great grandfather)

Homes|

* Fife House, Whitehall
* Walmer Castle
* Church of St Mary, Hawkesbury

Namesakes|

* Liverpool Plains
* Liverpool Range
* Liverpool River
* Liverpool Road
* Liverpool, New South Wales

Cultural depictions|

* British Tars Towing the Danish Fleet into Harbour
* The House of Commons, 1793–94
* The House of Rothschild
* Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (TV series)
* Napoléon (1955 film)
* Peterloo (film)
* Portrait of Lord Hawkesbury
* Portrait of Lord Liverpool
* Prince Regent (TV series)
* A Royal Scandal (1996 film)

Related|

* Feeble-minded
* Massacre of Tranent

* ← Spencer Perceval
* George Canning→

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