Monarch George III Role British statesman | Monarch George III Grandchildren Edward Grimston Name Charles 1st | |
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Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger
Henry Addington Preceded by The Lord Sydney (President of the Committee on Trade and Foreign Plantations) Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger
Henry Addington Died December 17, 1808, London, United Kingdom Books A treatise on the coins of the realm Spouse Catherine Bisshopp (m. 1782), Amelia Watts (m. 1769) Education Charterhouse School, University College, Oxford | ||
Succeeded by The Duke of Montrose Children Lady Charlotte Jenkinson | ||
Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool PC (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.
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Early years, family and education
He was born in Oxfordshire, 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 (d. 1611), who was a sea-captain, merchant, and traveller and the first known Englishman to penetrate into Central Asia. He was educated at Charterhouse School and University College, Oxford, where he graduated M.A. in 1752.
Political career
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.
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.
From 1778 until the close of Lord North's ministry in 1782 he was Secretary at War. From 1786 to 1803, 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.
In 1786 he was created Baron Hawkesbury, of Hawkesbury in the County of Gloucester, and ten years later, Earl of Liverpool. He also succeeded as 7th Baronet of Walcot in 1790. He lived in Addiscombe, Surrey and Hawkesbury, Gloucestershire. He died in London on 17 December 1808.
Family
Liverpool was twice married. He married firstly Amelia, daughter of William Watts, governor of Fort William, Bengal, in 1769. She died in July 1770, only a month after the birth of her only child, Robert.
Liverpool married secondly Catherine, daughter of Sir Cecil Bishopp, 6th Baronet, and widow of Sir Charles Cope, 2nd Baronet, on 22 June 1782 at her house in Hertford Street, London. They had one son, Charles, and one daughter.
Upon Lord Liverpool's death, he was succeeded by his only son from his first marriage, Robert, who became a prominent politician and eventually Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The Countess of Liverpool died in October 1827, aged 82.
Legacy
Liverpool wrote several political works but except for his Treatise on the Coins of the Realm (1805) these are, according to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, "without striking merits".
The Hawkesbury River in New South Wales, Australia and Hawkesbury, Ontario, Canada were named after Jenkinson shortly after he was created Baron Hawkesbury.