Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst
Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst (
22 May 1762-
1834), the elder son of the second earl. In April
1789 he married Georgiana (d. 1841), daughter of Lord George Henry Lennox, and was member of parliament for
Cirencester from
1783 until he succeeded to the earldom in August
1794. Owing mainly to his friendship with
William Pitt, he was a lord of the
admiralty from
1783 to
1789; a lord of the treasury from
1789 to
1791; and commissioner of the board of control from
1793 to
1802. Returning to office with Pitt in May
1804 he became
Master of the Mint, and was
President of the Board of Trade and Master of the Mint during the ministries of the
Duke of Portland and
Spencer Perceval, only vacating these posts in
June 1812 to become
Secretary of State for War and the Colonies under the earl of Liverpool. For two months during the year
1809 he was in charge of the foreign office. He was Secretary for War and the Colonies until
Liverpool resigned in
April 1827; and deserves some credit for improving the conduct of the
Peninsular War, while it was his duty to defend the government concerning its treatment of
Napoleon Bonaparte. Bathurst’s official position caused his name to be mentioned frequently during the agitation for the abolition of slavery, and with regard to this traffic he seems to have been animated by a humane spirit. He was
Lord President of the Council in the government of the
Duke of Wellington from
1828 to
1830, and favoured the removal of the disabilities of Roman Catholics, but was a sturdy opponent of the
Reform Bill of
1832. The Earl, who had four sons and two daughters, died on
27 July 1834. Bathurst was made a
Knight of the Garter in
1817, and held several lucrative sinecures.
{| border="2" align="center"
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Preceded by:
Henry Bathurst
|width="40%" align="center"|Earl Bathurst
|width="30%" align="center"|Followed by:
Henry George Bathurst
|}
Text originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.