Chichester Parkinson-Fortescue, 1st Baron Carlingford

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Chichester Parkinson-Fortescue, 1st Baron Carlingford, KP PC (January 18, 1823 – January 30, 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician of the nineteenth century.

He was the son of Chichester Fortescue (d. 1826), MP for Louth in the Irish parliament. He came of an old family settled in Ireland since the days of Sir Faithful Fortescue (1581-1666), whose uncle, Francis Leigh, 1st Earl of Chichester, was lord deputy. The history of the family was written by his elder brother, Thomas Fortescue, 1st Baron Clermont (1815-1887), who in 1852 was created Baron Clermont. The future Lord Carlingford, then Mr Chichester Fortescue, went to Christ Church, Oxford, where he took a first in classics (1844) and won the chancellor's English essay (1846); and in 1847 he was elected to parliament for Louth as a Liberal. He became a junior lord of the treasury in 1854, and subsequently held minor offices in the Liberal administrations till in 1865 he was made Chief Secretary for Ireland under Lord Russell, a post which he again occupied under Gladstone in 1868–1871; he then became President of the Board of Trade (1871–1874), and later Lord Privy Seal (1881–1885) and Lord President of the Council (1883–1885). He was raised to the peerage in 1874 as Baron Carlingford.

He parted from Gladstone on the question of Irish Home Rule, but in earlier years he was his active supporter on Irish questions. His influence in society was due largely to his wife, Frances (1821–1879), previously the wife of George Edward Waldegrave, the 7th Earl Waldegrave, whom he married in 1863.

In 1887 his brother, Lord Clermont, died, and Carlingford inherited his peerage; but on his own death at age 75 in 1898 without issue both titles became extinct.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Thomas Dawson	Member of Parliament for County Louth 1847–1874	Succeeded by George Kirk
Political offices
Preceded by John Ball	Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies 1857–1858	Succeeded by The Earl of Carnarvon
Preceded by The Earl of Carnarvon	Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies 1859–1865	Succeeded by William Edward Forster
Preceded by Sir Robert Peel, Bt	Chief Secretary for Ireland 1865–1866	Succeeded by Lord Naas
Preceded by John Wilson-Patten	Chief Secretary for Ireland 1868–1871	Succeeded by Marquess of Hartington
Preceded by John Bright	President of the Board of Trade 1871–1874	Succeeded by Sir Charles Adderley
Preceded by The Duke of Argyll	Lord Privy Seal 1881–1885	Succeeded by The Earl of Rosebery
Preceded by The Earl Spencer	Lord President of the Council 1883–1885	Succeeded by The Viscount Cranbrook
Honorary Titles
Preceded by Sir Thomas Western, Bt	Lord Lieutenant of Essex 1873–1892	Succeeded by The Lord Rayleigh
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by New Creation	Baron Carlingford 1874–1898	Succeeded by (extinct)
Preceded by Thomas Fortescue	Baron Clermont 1887–1898	Succeeded by (extinct)