| The Most Honourable The Marquess Camden KG, PC, FSA |
|
|---|---|
| Lord Lieutenant of Ireland | |
| In office 13 March 1795 – 14 June 1798 |
|
| Monarch | George III |
| Prime Minister | Hon. William Pitt the Younger |
| Preceded by | The Earl Fitzwilliam |
| Succeeded by | The Marquess Cornwallis |
| Secretary of State for War and the Colonies |
|
| In office 14 May 1804 – 10 July 1805 |
|
| Monarch | George III |
| Prime Minister | Hon. William Pitt the Younger |
| Preceded by | Lord Hobart |
| Succeeded by | Viscount Castlereagh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 11 February 1759 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London |
| Died | 8 October 1840 Seale, Surrey |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Tory |
| Spouse(s) | Frances Molesworth (d. 1829) |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
John Jeffreys Pratt, 1st Marquess Camden KG, PC (11 February 1759 – 8 October 1840), styled Viscount Bayham from 1786 to 1794 and known as The Earl Camden from 1794 to 1812, was a British politician. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland between 1795 and 1798 and as Secretary of State for War and the Colonies between 1804 and 1805.
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Camden was born at Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, the only son of Lord Chancellor Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, and Elizabeth, daughter of Nicholas Jeffreys, of The Priory, Brecknockshire.[1] He was educated at the University of Cambridge (Trinity College).[1][2]
In 1780 Camden was elected Member of Parliament for Bath[1][3] and obtained the position of Teller of the Exchequer the same year,[1] a lucrative office which he kept until his death, although after 1812 he refused to receive the large income arising from it. He served under the Earl of Shelburne as Lord of the Admiralty between 1782 and 1783 and under William Pitt the Younger as a Lord of the Admiralty between 1783 and 1789 and as a Lord of the Treasury between 1789 and 1792.[1] In 1793 he was sworn of the Privy Council. In 1794 he succeeded his father in the earldom, and the following year he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland by Pitt.[4] Disliked in Ireland as an opponent of Roman Catholic emancipation and as the exponent of an unpopular policy, Camden's term of office was one of turbulence, culminating in the rebellion of 1798.
Immediately after the suppression of the rising Camden resigned.[1] In 1804 became Secretary of State for War and the Colonies under Pitt,[5] and in 1805 Lord President of the Council,[6] an office he retained until 1806. He was again Lord President from 1807 to 1812,[1] after which date he remained for some time in the cabinet without office. In 1812 he was created Earl of Brecknock and Marquess Camden.[7]
Camden was also Lord Lieutenant of Kent between 1808 and 1840[1][8] and Chancellor of Cambridge University between 1834 and 1840.[1] He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1799[9] and elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1802.[1]
Lord Camden married Frances, daughter of William Molesworth, in 1785. She died at Bayham Abbey, Sussex, in July 1829. Lord Camden survived her by eleven years and died at Seale, Surrey, on 8 October 1840, aged 81. He was succeeded by his only son, George.[1]