Henry Parnell, 1st Baron Congleton
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Henry Brook Parnell, 1st Baron Congleton PC (3 July 1776 – 8 June 1842), known as Sir Henry Parnell, 4th Baronet, from 1812 to 1841, was a Whig politician in the United Kingdom.
Congleton was the second son of Sir John Parnell, 2nd Baronet, Chancellor of the Irish exchequer, and Laetitia Charlotte Brooke, daughter of Sir Arthur Brooke, 1st Baronet. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge. In 1812 he succeeded his elder brother as fourth Baronet, of Rathleague.
In 1801 Congleton inherited the family estates in Queen's County and the following year he was elected to Parliament for Portarlington. However, he soon resigned the seat. In 1806 he was elected for Queen's County, which he represented until 1832.
It was Congleton's motion on the civil list that the Duke of Wellington's administration was defeated in 1830. The Whigs came to power under Lord Grey and in 1831 Congleton was admitted to the Privy Council appointed Secretary at War, a post he held until February 1833. He resigned his seat in Parliament the same year but returned in 1833 as the representative for Dundee. When the Whigs again came to power in April 1835 under Lord Melbourne, Congleton was made Paymaster of the Forces and Treasurer of the Ordnance and Navy (which offices were consolidated into that of Paymaster-General in 1836), posts he retained until the government fell in 1841. The latter year he was raised to the peerage as Baron Congleton, of Congleton in the County Palatine of Chester. He was also the author of several volumes and pamphlets on matters connected with financial and penal questions, the most important being that On Financial Reform, 1830.
Lord Congleton married Lady Caroline Elizabeth Damer-Dawson, daughter of John Dawson, 1st Earl of Portarlington, in 1801. In 1842, having suffered for some time from ill-health and melancholy, he committed suicide, aged 65. He was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son John.
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- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
- Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page
