Henry Labouchere, 1st Baron Taunton

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Henry Labouchere (pronounced ˌlæbuˈʃɛɚ) (August 15, 1798 – July 13, 1869) was a prominent British Whig and Liberal Party politician of the mid-19th century.

Labouchere was born in Over Stowey, Somerset, into a Huguenot merchant family. He took his B.A. (1821) and his M.A. (1828) at Oxford University.

In 1826, Labouchere became MP for Michael Borough, as a Whig. In 1830, he moved to the Taunton seat, which he held until 1859. (In 1835, Labouchere was opposed by Benjamin Disraeli for the Taunton seat, and defeated him by 452 votes to 282.)

Labouchere was first named to office by Earl Grey in 1832, serving as Civil Lord of the Admiralty. After beginning the second Melbourne ministry as Master of the Mint, Privy Counsellor, and Vice-President of the Board of Trade (and, later, Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies), Labouchere was raised to a cabinet post, President of the Board of Trade, which he held from 1839 until the Melbourne government fell in 1841.

When the Whigs, now led by Lord John Russell, returned to office in 1846, Labouchere returned to the cabinet, this time as Chief Secretary for Ireland. The following year, he once again became President of the Board of Trade, and stayed in that post until Russell's government fell in 1852.

Labouchere's final cabinet posting came during the first Palmerston ministry, for which he served as Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1855 to 1858. In 1859, Labouchere was raised to the House of Lords as Baron Taunton.

Lord Taunton died at his home, Quantock Lodge in Over Stowey. He had married Frances Baring in 1840 and, after her death, Lady Mary Howard in 1852. He had three daughters, but no sons, and, as a result, his barony became extinct at his death. His nephew, also Henry Labouchere, inherited part of Labouchere's fortune, and was later to become a well-known newspaper editor and politician.

[edit] References

• Lee, Sidney, ed. Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 11, "Labouchere, Henry, Baron Taunton". London : Smith Elder, 1909.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Sir George Thomas Staunton William Taylor Money	Member of Parliament for Mitchell 2-seat constituency (with William Leake) 1826–1830	Succeeded by Lloyd Kenyon John Heywood Hawkins
Preceded by Henry Seymour William Peachey	Member of Parliament for Taunton 2-seat constituency (with Edward Thomas Bainbridge, 1830–1842 Sir Thomas Edward Colebrooke, 1842–1852 Arthur Mills, 1852–1853 Sir John William Ramsden, 1853–1857 Arthur Mills, 1857–1859) 1830–1859	Succeeded by Arthur Mills George Augustus Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck
Political offices
Preceded by Viscount Lowther	Vice-President of the Board of Trade 1835–1839	Succeeded by Richard Lalor Sheil
Preceded by Charles Thomson	President of the Board of Trade 1839–1841	Succeeded by The Earl of Ripon
Preceded by Earl of Lincoln	Chief Secretary for Ireland 1846–1847	Succeeded by Sir William Somerville
Preceded by The Earl of Clarendon	President of the Board of Trade 1847–1852	Succeeded by Joseph Warner Henley
Preceded by Sir William Molesworth, Bt	Colonial Secretary 1855–1858	Succeeded by Lord Stanley
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by (new creation)	Baron Taunton 1859–1869	Succeeded by (title extinct)