Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston

British politician

Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston, FRS (4 December 1739 – 17 April 1802), was a British politician.

## Life

[edit]

Temple was a son of Henry Temple (son of Henry Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston) and Jane, daughter of Sir John Barnard, Lord Mayor of London.[1]

He was born into 'the Ascendancy', the Anglo-Irish aristocracy. His family owned a vast country estate in the north of County Sligo in the west of Ireland. He succeeded to the peerage in 1757, and was educated at Clare College, Cambridge from 1757 to 1759.[2]

As a member of the British House of Commons, he represented the constituencies of East Looe between 1762 and 1768, Southampton between 1768 and 1774, Hastings between 1774 and 1784, Boroughbridge between 1784 and 1790, Newport, Isle of Wight between 1790 and 1796, and Winchester between 1796 and his death in 1802.

He was appointed to the Board of Trade in 1765, was a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty between 1766 and 1777, and was a Lord of the Treasury from 1777 to 1782.

In 1763 Temple journeyed to Italy, staying with Voltaire at Ferney en route. He reached Rome in 1764, and from there visited Paestum, south of Naples. He bought antiquities and paintings from Gavin Hamilton, antiquities from Giovanni Battista Piranesi, paintings from Angelica Kauffman, cameos from Giovanni Pichler and sculpture from Joseph Nollekens.[3]

He died on 17 April 1802 at his house in Hanover Square, Westminster,[1] and was buried at Romsey Abbey with a monument by John Flaxman.[4]

He left behind his wife and children. His son, Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century.

A portrait of Henry Temple by Angelica Kauffman is held at Broadlands, Hampshire.

## Arms

[edit]

Coat of arms of Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston

Crest
A talbot sejant Sable plain collared Or.[5]
Escutcheon
Quarterly 1st & 4th Or an eagle displayed Sable (Leofric, Saxon Earl of Mercia), 2nd & 3rd Argent two bars Sable each charged with three martlets Or (Temple).
Supporters
Dexter a lion reguardant poean sinister a horse reguardant Argent mane tail and hoofs Or.
Motto
Flecti Non Frangi (To Be Bent Not Broken)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Davies, Edward J. (2008). "The Ancestry of Lord Palmerston". The Genealogist. 22: 62–77.
2. ^ "Palmerston, Henry (Temple), Viscount (PLMN757HT)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
3. ^ Bignamini, Ilaria; Hornsby, Clare (2010). Digging and Dealing in Eighteenth-Century Rome. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. pp. 313–315. ISBN 978-0300160437.
4. ^ Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis p.150
5. ^ Debrett's Peerage. 1865. p. 268.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Brian Connell, Portrait of a Whig Peer. Compiled from the papers of the Second Viscount Palmerston 1739 – 1802 (1957. London)

Parliament of Great Britain

Preceded by

Francis Gashry
John Buller

|  Member of Parliament for East Looe
1762–1768
With:  John Buller | Succeeded by

Richard Hussey
John Buller

Preceded by

Henry Dawkins
Hans Stanley

|  Member of Parliament for Southampton
1768–1774
With:  Hans Stanley | Succeeded by

John Fleming
Hans Stanley

Preceded by

Samuel Martin
William Ashburnham

|  Member of Parliament for Hastings
1774–1784
With:  Charles Jenkinson
John Ord | Succeeded by

John Stanley
John Dawes

Preceded by

Anthony Eyre
Charles Ambler

|  Member of Parliament for Boroughbridge
1784–1790
With:  Sir Richard Sutton, Bt | Succeeded by

Morris Robinson
Sir Richard Sutton, Bt

Preceded by

Edward Rushworth
George Byng

|  Member of Parliament for Newport
1790–1796
With:  Viscount Melbourne to 1793
Peniston Lamb from 1793  | Succeeded by

Jervoise Clarke Jervoise
Edward Rushworth

Preceded by

Henry Penton
Richard Grace Gamon

|  Member of Parliament for Winchester
1796–1800
With:  Richard Grace Gamon | Succeeded by

Parliament of the United Kingdom

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by

Parliament of Great Britain

|  Member of Parliament for Winchester
1801
With:  Richard Grace Gamon | Succeeded by

Sir Henry St John-Mildmay, Bt
Richard Grace Gamon

Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by

Henry Temple

|  Viscount Palmerston
1757–1802  | Succeeded by

Henry Temple

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