Thomas Spring Rice, 1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon

The Right Honourable The Lord Monteagle of Brandon PC FRS FGS


Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office 18 April 1835 – 26 August 1839
Monarch	William IV Victoria
Prime Minister	The Viscount Melbourne
Preceded by	Sir Robert Peel, Bt
Succeeded by	Francis Baring
Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
In office 5 June 1834 – 14 November 1834
Monarch	William IV
Prime Minister	The Viscount Melbourne
Preceded by	Edward Smith-Stanley
Succeeded by	The Duke of Wellington
Comptroller General of the Exchequer
In office 18 April 1835 – 7 February 1866
Monarch	William IV Victoria
Preceded by	Sir John Newport, Bt.
Succeeded by	Office abolished

Personal details
Born	(1790-02-08)8 February 1790
Died	17 February 1866(1866-02-17) (aged 76)
Nationality	British
Political party	Whig
Spouse(s)	(1) Lady Theodosia Pery (d. 1839) (2) Marianne Marshall
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

Thomas Spring Rice, 1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon PC FRS FGS (8 February 1790 – 7 February 1866) was a British Whig politician, who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1835 to 1839.

Background

Spring Rice was born into a notable Anglo-Irish family, which owned large estates in Munster.^[1] He was one of the three children of Stephen Edward Rice (d.1831), of Mount Trenchard House, and Catherine Spring, daughter and heiress of Thomas Spring of Ballycrispin and Castlemaine, County Kerry, a descendant of the Suffolk Spring family.^[2] He was a great grandson of Sir Stephen Rice (1637–1715), Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer and a leading Jacobite, Sir Maurice FitzGerald, 14th Knight of Kerry and Walter Spring.^[3] His only married sister, Mary, was the mother of the Catholic converts Aubrey Thomas de Vere, poet, and the Liberal Member of Parliament, Sir Stephen de Vere, 4th Baronet. Spring Rice's grandfather, Edward, had converted the family from Roman Catholicism to the Anglican Church of Ireland, to save his estate from passing in gavelkind.

Spring Rice was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and later studied law at Lincoln's Inn, but was not called to the Bar.^[4] His family was politically well-connected, both in Ireland and Great Britain, and he was encouraged to stand for Parliament by his father-in-law, Lord Limerick.

Political career

Spring Rice first stood for election in Limerick City in 1818 but was defeated by the Tory incumbent, John Vereker, by 300 votes. He won the seat in 1820 and entered the House of Commons. He positioned himself as a moderate unionist reformer who opposed the radical nationalist politics of Daniel O'Connell, and became known for his expertise on Irish and economic affairs. In 1824 he led the committee which established the Ordnance Survey in Ireland.^[5]

Spring Rice's fluent debating style in the Commons brought him to the attention of leading Whigs and he came under the patronage of the Marquess of Lansdowne. As a result, Spring Rice was made Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department under George Canning and Lord Goderich in 1827, with responsibility for Irish affairs. This required Spring Rice to accept deferral of Catholic emancipation, a policy which he strongly supported.^[6] Spring Rice then served as joint Secretary to the Treasury from 1830 to 1834 under Lord Grey. Following the Reform Act 1832, he was elected to represent Cambridge from 1832 to 1839. In June 1834, Grey appointed Spring Rice Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, with a seat in the cabinet, a post he retained when Lord Melbourne became Prime Minister in July. A strong and vocal unionist throughout his life, Spring Rice led the Parliamentary opposition to Daniel O'Connell's 1834 attempt to repeal the Acts of Union 1800.^[7] In a six-hour speech in the House of Commons on 23 April 1834 he suggested that Ireland should be renamed 'West Britain'.^[8] In the Commons, Spring Rice also championed causes such as the worldwide abolition of slavery and the introduction of state-supported education.

The Whig government fell in November 1834, after which Spring Rice attempted to be elected Speaker of the House of Commons in early 1835. When the Whigs returned to power under Melbourne in April 1835, Spring Rice was made Chancellor of the Exchequer. As Chancellor, Spring Rice had to deal with crop failures, a depression and rebellion in North America, all of which created large deficits and put considerable strain on the government. His Church Rate Bill of 1837 was quickly abandoned and his attempt to revise the charter of the Bank of Ireland ended in humiliation. Spring Rice, unhappy as Chancellor, again tried to be elected as Speaker, but failed. He was a dogmatic figure, described by Lord Melbourne as "too much given to details and possessed of no broad views".^[9] Upon his departure from office in 1839, Spring Rice had become a scapegoat for the government's many problems. That same year he was raised to the peerage as Baron Monteagle of Brandon, in the County of Kerry, a title intended earlier for his ancestor Sir Stephen Rice. Lord Monteagle of Brandon was also Comptroller General of the Exchequer from 1835 to 1865, despite Lord Howick's initial opposition to the maintenance of the office. Monteagle differed from the government regarding the exchequer control over the treasury, and the abolition of the old exchequer was already determined upon when he died.

From 1839 he largely retired from public life, although he occasionally spoke in the House of Lords on matters generally relating to government finance and Ireland.^[8] He vehemently opposed John Russell, 1st Earl Russell's policy regarding the Irish famine, giving a speech in the Lords in which he said the government had "degraded our people, and you, English, now shrink from your responsibilities."^[6]

Outside Parliament

In addition to his political career, Spring Rice was a commissioner of the state paper office, a trustee of the National Gallery and a member of the senate of the University of London and of the Queen's University of Ireland. Between 1845 and 1847, he was President of the Royal Statistical Society. In addition, he was a Fellow of the Royal Society and a Fellow of the Geological Society.^[8] In May 1832 he became a member of James Mill's Political Economy Club.

Spring Rice was well regarded in Limerick, where he was seen as a compassionate landlord and a good politician. An advocate of traditional Whiggism, he strongly believed in ensuring society was protected from conflict between the upper and lower classes.^[10] Although a pious Anglican, his support for Catholic emancipation won him the favour of many Irishmen, most of whom were Roman Catholic. He led the campaign for better county government in Ireland at a time when many Irish nationalists were indifferent to the cause.^[11] During the Great Famine of the 1840s, Spring Rice responded to the plight of his tenants with benevolence. The ameliorative measures he implemented on his estates almost bankrupted the family and only the dowry from his second marriage saved his financial situation. A monument in honour of him still stands in the People's Park in Limerick.

Even so, Spring Rice's reputation in Ireland is not entirely favourable. In a book regarding assisted emigration from Ireland (a process in which a landlord paid for their tenants' passage to the United States or Australia), Moran has suggested that Spring Rice was engaged in the practice. In 1838, he is recorded as having 'helped' a boat load of his tenants depart for North America, thereby allowing himself the use of their land.^[12] However, Spring Rice is also recorded as having been in support of state-assisted emigration across the British Isles, suggesting that his motivation was not necessarily selfish.^[13]

Mount Monteagle in Antarctica and Monteagle County in New South Wales were named in honour of Spring Rice.^[14]

Family

The Spring Rice monument in Limerick, Ireland.

Lord Monteagle of Brandon was married twice. He married firstly Lady Theodosia Pery, daughter of Edmund Pery, 1st Earl of Limerick, in 1811. Being only twenty-one at the time, this marriage prematurely terminated his university career. The marriage produced five sons and three daughters:

Hon. Theodosia Alicia Ellen Frances Charlotte Spring Rice (died 2 January 1891), married Sir Henry Taylor in 1839.
Hon. Mary Alicia Pery Spring Rice (died 11 May 1875), served as a Maid of Honour to Queen Victoria between 1837 and 1841.^[15] Married James Marshall in 1841.
Hon. Catherine Anne Lucy Spring Rice (died 23 July 1853), married Henry Marshall in 1837.
Hon. Stephen Edmund Spring Rice (31 Aug 1814 – 9 May 1865), married Ellen Frere in 1839. He was High Sheriff of County Limerick in 1837.
Hon. Charles William Thomas Spring Rice (10 Jan 1819 – 13 July 1870), married Elizabeth Marshall in 1855. He was Assistant Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
Hon. Edmund Henry Francis Louis Spring Rice (31 Mar 1821 – 16 January 1887), married Margaret Little in 1870.
Hon. Aubrey Richard Spring Rice (15 Aug 1822 – 29 November 1897), married Anne John-Mildmay in 1852.
Hon. William Cecil Spring Rice (1 Nov 1823 – 11 August 1880), died unmarried.

After his first wife's death in 1839, Monteagle married secondly Marianne, daughter of the Leeds industrialist John Marshall, in 1841. This union brought much needed money into the family, allowing Spring Rice to maintain his Mount Trenchard estate in Ireland and a London house. Upon Lord Monteagle of Brandon's death in February 1866, aged 75, he was succeeded in the barony by his grandson Thomas Spring Rice, the son of his eldest son Hon. Stephen Edmund Spring Rice. Lord Monteagle of Brandon's great-granddaughter was the Irish nationalist, Mary Spring Rice. His second son, Hon. Charles William Thomas Rice, was the father of the diplomat Sir Cecil Spring Rice, British Ambassador to the United States from 1912 to 1918.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Thomas Spring Rice, 1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon

16. Thomas Rice

8. Sir Stephen Rice

17. Phillis Fanning

4. James Rice

18. Sir Maurice FitzGerald, 14th Knight of Kerry

9. Mary FitzGerald

19. Elizabeth Crosbie

2. Stephen Rice

10. Sir John Trelawny

5. Mary Trelawny

1. Thomas Spring Rice, 1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon

24. Edward Spring

12. Walter Spring

25. Anne Browne

6. Thomas Spring of Castlemaine

26. Sir William FitzGerald, 11th Knight of Kerry

13. Juliana FitzGerald

27. Margaret Tobin

3. Catherine Spring

References

↑ Joseph Jackson Howard, 'Spring', '’The Visitation of Suffolk'’ ( Whittaker and Co, 1866), 165–206.
↑ Read this book A genealogical and heraldic history of the extinct and dormant baronetcies by John Burke
↑ David Henry Burton, Cecil Spring Rice: A Diplomat's Life (Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1990), 21.
↑ "Spring Rice, Thomas (SPRN809T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
↑ Rachel Hewitt, 'Ensign of Empire', Map of a Nation: A Biography Of The Ordnance Survey (Granta Books, 7 July 2011)
1 2 http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/rice-thomas-1790-1866
↑ 'Rice, Thomas Spring, Lord Monteagle', in A Compendium of Irish Biography (1878)
1 2 3 http://www.oxforddnb.com/templates/article.jsp?articleid=26179&back=
↑ Dictionary of National Biography – Spring Rice
↑ R. Brent, 'Liberal Anglican politics: whiggery, religion, and reform, 1830–1841' (1987)
↑ Mark Callanan, Justin F. Keogan, Local Government in Ireland: Inside Out (Institute of Public Administration, 1 January 2003), 16.
↑ Moran, Gerard (2004). Sending out Ireland's Poor, assisted emigration to North America in the nineteenth century. Dublin. p. 30.
↑ Spring Rice, Thomas (1790–1866), of Mount Trenchard, nr. Foynes, co. Limerick, from History of Parliament online http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/rice-thomas-1790-1866
↑ "Monteagle County". Geographical Names Register (GNR) of NSW. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales.
↑ Queen Victoria's Ladies-in-Waiting, http://users.uniserve.com/~canyon/qv_ladies.htm

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Monteagle, Thomas Spring-Rice, 1st Baron". Encyclopædia Britannica. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 763.
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Thomas Spring Rice

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Hon. John Vereker	Member of Parliament for Limerick 1820 – 1832	Succeeded by William Roche David Roche (representation increased to two members 1832)
Preceded by Frederick William Trench The Marquess of Graham	Member of Parliament for Cambridge 1832–1839 With: George Pryme	Succeeded by George Pryme John Manners-Sutton
Political offices
Preceded by Spencer Perceval	Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department 1827	Succeeded by William Yates Peel
Preceded by Joseph Planta	Joint Secretary to the Treasury 1830–1834	Succeeded by Francis Baring
Preceded by Lord Stanley	Secretary of State for War and the Colonies 1834	Succeeded by The Earl of Aberdeen
Preceded by Sir Robert Peel, Bt.	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1835–1839	Succeeded by Francis Baring
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baron Monteagle of Brandon 1839–1866	Succeeded by Thomas Spring Rice

Chancellors of the Exchequer
of England	Eustace of Fauconberg Maunsell Leicester Westminster Chishull W. Giffard G. Giffard Chishull de la Leye Willoughby Benstead Sandale Hotham Stanton Harvington Wodehouse Stratford Ashby Ashton Barnham Somer Somerset Browne Witham Thwaites Witham Fowler Catesby Lovell Berners Cromwell Baker Sackville Mildmay Fortescue Dunbar Caesar Greville Portland Barrett Cottington Colepeper Hyde Ashley Duncombe Ernle Delamer Hampden Montagu Smith Boyle
of Great Britain	Boyle Smith Harley Benson Wyndham Onslow Walpole Stanhope Aislabie Pratt Walpole Sandys Pelham Lee Bilson-Legge Lyttelton Bilson-Legge Mansfield Bilson-Legge Barrington Dashwood Grenville Dowdeswell Townshend North Cavendish Pitt Cavendish Pitt Addington Pitt Ellenborough Petty Perceval Vansittart
of the United Kingdom	Vansittart Robinson Canning Tenterden Herries Goulburn Althorp Denman Peel Spring Rice Baring Goulburn Wood Disraeli Gladstone Lewis Disraeli Gladstone Disraeli Hunt Lowe Gladstone Northcote Gladstone Childers Hicks Beach Harcourt R. Churchill Goschen Harcourt Hicks Beach Ritchie A. Chamberlain Asquith Lloyd George McKenna Law A. Chamberlain Horne Baldwin N. Chamberlain Snowden W. Churchill Snowden N. Chamberlain Simon Wood Anderson Dalton Cripps Gaitskell Butler Macmillan Thorneycroft Heathcoat-Amory Lloyd Maudling Callaghan Jenkins Macleod Barber Healey Howe Lawson Major Lamont Clarke Brown Darling Osborne Hammond
Italic: Interim Chancellor of the Exchequer, as Lord Chief Justice

Presidents of the Royal Statistical Society
19th century	1834–1836 The Marquess of Lansdowne 1836–1838 Sir Charles Lemon, Bt 1838–1840 The Earl FitzWilliam 1840–1842 Viscount Sandon 1842–1843 The Marquess of Lansdowne 1843–1845 Lord Ashley 1845–1847 The Lord Monteagle of Brandon 1847–1849 The Earl FitzWilliam 1849–1851 The Earl of Harrowby 1851–1853 The Lord Overstone 1853–1855 The Earl FitzWilliam 1855–1857 The Earl of Harrowby 1857–1859 Lord Stanley 1859–1861 Lord John Russell 1861–1863 Sir John Pakington, Bt 1863–1865 William Henry Sykes 1865–1867 The Lord Houghton 1867–1869 William Ewart Gladstone 1869–1871 William Newmarch 1871–1873 William Farr 1873–1875 William Guy 1875–1877 James Heywood 1877–1879 George Shaw-Lefevre 1879–1880 Thomas Brassey 1880–1882 James Caird 1882–1884 Robert Giffen 1884–1886 Rawson W. Rawson 1886–1888 George Goschen 1888–1890 Thomas Graham Balfour 1890–1892 Frederic J. Mouat 1892–1894 Charles Booth 1894–1896 The Lord Farrer 1896–1897 John Biddulph Martin 1897 Alfred Edmund Bateman 1897–1899 Leonard Courtney 1899–1900 Henry Fowler 1900–1902 The Lord Avebury
20th century	1902–1904 Patrick George Craigie 1904–1905 Sir Francis Powell, Bt 1905–1906 The Earl of Onslow 1906–1907 Richard Martin 1907–1909 Sir Charles Dilke, Bt 1909–1910 Jervoise Athelstane Baines 1910–1912 Lord George Hamilton 1912–1914 Francis Ysidro Edgeworth 1914–1915 The Lord Welby 1915–1916 Lord George Hamilton 1916–1918 Bernard Mallet, Registrar General 1918–1920 Herbert Samuel 1920–1922 R. Henry Rew 1922–1924 The Lord Emmott 1924–1926 Udny Yule 1926–1928 The Viscount D'Abernon 1928–1930 A. William Flux 1930–1932 Sir Josiah Stamp 1932–1934 The Lord Meston 1934–1936 Major Greenwood 1936–1938 The Lord Kennet 1938–1940 Arthur Lyon Bowley 1940–1941 Henry William Macrosty 1941 Hector Leak 1941–1943 William Beveridge 1943–1945 Charles Ernest Snow 1945–1947 The Lord Woolton 1947–1949 David Heron 1949–1950 Sir Geoffrey Heyworth 1950–1952 Austin Bradford Hill 1952–1954 Ronald Fisher 1954–1955 The Lord Piercy 1955–1957 Egon Pearson 1957–1959 Harry Campion 1959–1960 Hugh Beaver 1960–1962 Maurice Kendall 1962–1964 Joseph Oscar Irwin 1964–1965 Sir Paul Chambers 1965–1966 L. H. C. Tippett 1966–1967 M. S. Bartlett 1967–1968 Frank Yates 1968–1969 Arthur Cockfield 1969–1970 R. G. D. Allen 1970–1971 Bernard Benjamin 1971–1972 George Alfred Barnard 1972–1973 Harold Wilson 1973–1974 D. J. Finney 1974–1975 Henry Daniels 1975–1977 Stella Cunliffe 1977–1978 Henry Wynn 1978–1980 Sir Claus Moser 1980–1982 David Cox 1982–1984 Peter Armitage 1984–1985 Walter Bodmer 1985–1986 John Nelder 1986–1987 James Durbin 1987–1989 John Kingman 1989–1991 Peter G. Moore 1991–1993 T. M. F. Smith 1993–1995 D. J. Bartholomew 1995–1997 Adrian Smith 1997–1999 R. N. Curnow 1999–2001 Denise Lievesley
21st century	2001–2003 Peter Green 2003–2005 Andy Grieve 2005–2007 Tim Holt 2008–2009 David Hand 2010–2010 Bernard Silverman (resigned Feb 2010; replaced pro tem by David Hand) 2011–2012 Valerie Isham 2013–John Pullinger
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